The Great Camera Clean Up!

Eh, not great.  Been wiping down and dusting 4 cameras. Two pocket sized point and shoots, and one slightly larger one, and a micro 4/3s, and one mirrorless full frame.

One of the little ones is an Olympus SH-1. Easy to clean, but a pain to charge the battery. Have to have it plugged into a USB port. Very slow to charge.

The other small one is a Canon S95. Comes with a battery charger, and charged them up very quickly. 

The slightly larger one is an Olympus Stylus 1. Cleaned up ok, but the zooming knob would stick. A very careful application of liquid silicone on it, and it works as if brand new.

Next one, Olympus E-M1mII.  Just needed dusting and a battery swap out.

Last but definitely not least, Canon R5. Didn’t need much, but I did give it a good going over with dust brush, and microfiber cloth, and checked battery status. All good.

Might have overdone it just a bit this weekend

Three photoshoot sessions, different locations.  Lots of walking, lots of standing in one place.  And when I stepped off, the knee really freaking hurt.  It could be that it was just too soon after recovering from pneumonia, but I was getting cabin fever. Got some excellent images, though.  Was great to give the Sigma 150-600 Sport a workout. It performed wonderfully.

 

Yesterday, I refilled prescriptions for Moxicam (anti-inflammatory) and Tramadol.  Yesterday was the first time I have dosed myself with Tramadol in over two months.  Was short or breath several times during the sessions. Had the inhaler to counter that.
Slept fairly well last night, but still feeling a bit tired all day.  Managed to get some laundry done, so very basic tidying. Scrubbed and refilled the bird feeders.

Trying to stay awake now.

Lens ‘test’

A few weeks ago, I got a Sigma 150-600 Sports.  Unfortunately, circumstances kept me from giving this lens the test run I wanted.  Well, today, I got to mount it on my 7DmkII.

First off; the Sigma 150-600 is a beast of a lens. It’s heavy. And unless you’re used to curling 20lb dumbbells on a daily basis, you will need to use a monopod when using it it to photograph birds or anything else you will be walking around to do.  If you’re going to be standing in one spot, you will need a tripod.

Onto image quality.  Wow… just wow.

 

 

The lens is very quick to focus, and the images are sharp, without any distortion, even when shooting multiple subjects.

This Sigma is a great piece of glass. I wouldn’t use it every day, but for specific birding or sporting events, it’s a winner.

I'm not one for doing things last minute

I've been sorting and packing what camera gear I'm planning to take to Broome.  Although I'm taking less than I did last time, it weighs more? 2 camera bodies, three lenses, two extenders, Surface Pro. Puts the bag 2kgs over.  My choices are put a camera body or a lens, along with the extenders, into checked baggage.

It doesn't help when the camera bag itself is 2kgs!  Wing  said that since his Olympus gear is lighter, I might be able to put some of my gear in his carry on bag.  If not, I have a lightweight camera bag I can safely stow my gear, and put it in the checked in baggage.

The Canon Collective Australia South West Road Trip

Last week, Wing and I headed out on a photography trip. To be honest, I wasn't sure I would be up for it, as there was some hiking involved.

We got to the Bunker Bay Resort, and that place was just a beautiful as I remember from years ago. When the concierge was informed of my knee issue, coupled with the fact we were about as far from the reception/parking area as we could be (we had the bungalow near the lake), we had golfcart transport to and from our bungalow.

Moving on.

Thursday. First stop was Sugar Loaf Rock, one of the most photographed rock formations in Western Australia.  I looked at the ‘overlook’ area and was started the slow climb up. Yay! Made it!

Everyone takes a photo of the formation with the water and waves all around it durning sunrises or sunsets, and they’re lovely, but I wanted to do something a bit different.

Sunset at Sugar Loaf Rock.

 

Also had a Nankeen Kestrel keeping watch over our activities.

 

Friday: Next stop was the Albany Wind Farm. Due to some misinformation, I was told the person I was looking for to return a lens was at the very top of the trail.  I managed to go almost to the very top, only to find out the person I was looking for was at the bottom  

Also revisited the Canal Rocks, and first time visit to The Reflecting Pool.

 

 

Saturday: We went back to the Albany Wind Farm at Dark O’Clock to get some shots of the Milkyway over the wind farm. Then we headed to “The Gap and Natural Bridge” later in the day for some sunshet shots. And also got a great shot of the “Albany Brig” with almost perfectly still water reflecting.

 

Sunday: We got up again, at O’Dark O’Clock to get some Astrophotography at The Gap and Natural Bridge.

 

After sunrise, we got some photos of the harbor, the shipping port and other local points of interest.

 

And then it was time to head home.  Took a while to get all the photos culled and processed.  

 

It was a great road trip.   Here’s hoping the next one is just as much fun.

Interesting results

Yesterday, I went out to get some stormy skies photography, and brought the 7DmkII paired with Canon 400mm f/5.6 prime lens.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good lens, but without stabilization, I found most my photos had some variation of motion blur, as it was low light, focusing on a distant subject, hand held. Not the best lighting for a non IS lens.

Today, I took the 400mm, mounted it on the Kipon EF to MFT adapter, and put it on an Olympus OMD EM1.  I swear this lens and body were made for each other.  Even though the lens is an f/5.6 on a full frame, the equivalent on the EM1 is an F/2.8.  Couple that with the in body stabilization, the lens being Non IS is no longer an issue.

You have to remember this when using this combination, because if you don't your images will probably be a bit dark, and when shooting at ISO 800 or above, that can lead to excess noise.  You will see 5.6 flashing in your viewfinder. You have to ignore that. I know, goes against everything you’ve learned.

I shot this at f/6.3 +0.7, ISO 800, 1/120 exp. 

The image is sharp, colors are great, and even the bokeh is sweet.

DxO has Released a 'New' version of NIK

I got an email from DxO about how they've re-released a "New and Improved" version of NIK software.  Well, I downloaded the demo and tried it out.

If you already have the free version that Google put out, or even the older paid version before Google appropriated it,  and it's working, don't bother paying for this one.  I installed it to Adobe products, and even installed in in Corel PaintShop Pro.  I saw NO difference between this new one (which says it's $49 USD but when you add it to your 'cart', it goes to $69 USD) . 

Now I have read that certain Mac systems, after an OS update, NIK no longer functioned, and this new version has rectified that, but if you're running a Windows PC, this isn't an issue.

Unless they make all the NIK tools work in other than just Adobe, if yours is working, you can skip this one.

Oh well

Skylum Luminar 2018 is a great photo editing software and also great to use as a plugin with Adobe. There is slight boo hiss on this.

I've tried to use Luminar as a plugin with Corel PaintShop Pro X9 and 2018. No joy. Luminar starts but doesn't load up anything. Won't open the image, filter windows are blank/black with nothing in them.

The good news is, Luminar does work with Affinity for Windows.  Yeah yeah, Affinity doesn't have "Digital Asset Managing", but go old school, and make your own folders, with names and dates or what the subject is about. Ta da! Manual Digital Asset Managing.

I do wish that other photo editing software makers, especially those who make plugins for editors, would get it through their heads there is MORE than just Adobe products out there. 

I remember exchanging emails with NIK before they sold out to Google (I still have the emails to prove it) about developing their plugins to be 100% compatible with Corel (and other) products, that I would be glad to be a tester. They kept saying Oh Sure! Great idea! Then sold it to Google, who gave me same song and dance.  And we know how that ended, don't we? Given away for free, no further development.

Someone emailed me asking for step by step

With photos after installing/copying On1 to CS5.

After you've installed CC, and On1PhotoRaw, copy the plugins to CS5 Plugin directory/folder.

Launch On1PhotoRaw.

It will start in the BROWSE module. Select the image you want edit/develop. When you’re finished with your edits, click on EXPORT on the bottom right

Export as high res jpg.  Skip the ‘show in explorer’. You won’t really need that.

 

After the export has finished, go back to the BROWSE module.  Right click on your edited JPG and select SEND TO Photoshop CS5 12 (if you haven’t selected CS5 yet, go to Send To Other Application. Once you’ve selected CS5, it will remain in the drop down list) . As you can see, this image was taken with Canon 5D4, so CS5 wouldn’t have been able to open the CR2/RAW file.

CS5 will start.

You can then use O1PhotoRaw Effects and Develop in CS5

Edited Image:

Thanks for stoppin’ by. Hope this clears things up!

I was Over-thinking it

Easier way to use On1PhotoRaw 2018 with Photoshop CS5.

Yes, still install trial version of CC, but don't subscribe , and leave it on  your system, as the TOS says nothing about removing it if you aren't going to use it. (I know, I read the entire boring thing) Install On1PhotoRaw 2018. It won’t install the plugins to CS5, so you have to copy all the plugins from CC plugins directory to the CS5 plugins directory.

Don't even bother with Adobe Bridge. This way you will avoid the "can't open javascript missing" error I posted about earlier, thereby using all the On1 Plugins. Use On1PhotoRaw only.  If you really want to use Bridge, open it by using a short cut. But you won't really need to.

Instead, using On1PhotoRaw as you would bridge. It will open on Browse module. Go into the develop, do whatever you want or need to do, then go to the bottom right corner of On1 and select EXPORT. It will automatically default to the folder/directory the RAW image was opened. Don't bother with any of the presets at this time, with the exception of may not having it open the directory it was saved to. Export it as a full sized, high res JPG. 

Go back to the BROWSE module. Right click on your JPG, select SEND TO OTHER APPLICATION, and navigate to the CS5 Photoshop.exe file.  Do this once, and CS5 will be listed in the drop down menu.  Then when you click on Photoshop CS5 12, select ORIGINAL image, because you've already done all the edits. It will open in CS5, and you can use all your familiar Photoshop tools and plugins, and use all the new On1photoRaw plugins too although I do have a problem when I try to use the RESIZE plugin in CS5.

So, your CS5 Bridge might not be able to read the newer Camera Raw formats, but On1PhotoRaw can.

Making On1PhotoRaw* your default RAW Editor in CS5 and CS6

This is for CS5 and CS6 users who want to use Bridge in their workflow, but want to launch On1PhotoRaw* as their default Camera Raw editor.

If you follow these steps, which sound a bit complicated, but aren't, this will work for you.

First, download and install trial version of CreativeCloud.  I have gone over their TOS and it says nothing about uninstalling if if you aren't going to use it.  Keep it there, for reasons that will follow.

Install On1 PhotoRaw.  It will automatically find CreativeCloud, and install the plugins. Go to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop CC\Plugins. Copy the On1 plugins from that to the Photoshop CS5\Plugins folder. On1 will install in your CS6 directory.

Go to Adobe Bridge.  Open up Edit Preferences and select which ever raw format your camera shoots in, click on SELECT, and navigate to On1 folder and choose the on1 photoraw 2018.exe. Click on Ok, then save. 

In CS5, I don't know why, but I can't double click on the RAW files to get it to launch. BUT I can right click, and select OPEN WITH and choose the now default On1PhotoRaw.  CS6 users, once you have made On1photoRaw2018 your default Raw Editor, it will launch from Bridge.

You will notice it opens the RAW image in Layers module, but just click on Develop and process your Raw image, then either let On1 save it as a PSD, or export it as a JPG. To prevent ON1 from making a PSD after you've exported it, go back to layers module, File/Close and discard changes made. On1 will then just shut down.

And since you have the trial version of CC on your computer, navigate to C:\Program files\Common Files\Adobe\Plugins\CC\File Formats.  You will see  CC and CS5 (or CS6). Rename CameraRaw8li that is in CS5 (or CS6). To CameraRawCS5.8li.  Copy The CameraRaw.8li from CC into your C:\Program files\Common Files\Adobe\Plugins\CS5 \File Formats or CS6.  This way you can at least view the image files you want On1PhotoRaw to edit in CS5 Bridge.

*You can also do this method to use Skylum Luminar as your default RAW editor.

Another Alternative to Adobe Rentals

Now that even Adobe Lightroom has gone to subscription only, even more people are looking for alternatives for RAW processing and photo editing.

Skylum Luminar - The latest program I tried.  I downloaded and installed the 14 day, fully functional, trial version. 4 days into using it, I was sold!  Luminar makes Adobe Lightroom in all its' incarnations look clunky and sluggish.  The "Categories" (or presets if you prefer) are eminently adjustable to the look you want. For those accustomed to Adobes' "Transform" tools, there is a bit of new language learning, but nothing overly difficult to do.

I took this lackluster photo

 

and turned it into something I would have printed and framed.

A lot of people complain that it doesn't have "Digital assets management", but for me that isn't an issue, as I always make descriptive and dated folders for my photo shoots.

Luminar works on both my low end laptop (Sony Vaio 16gb ram) and on my custom built box.

Again, some will find the lack of Digital asset management a problem, but as I typed above, not an issue with me. The only things I had to do after developing and editing was export the image as a high res JPG, open it in Photoshop, and use a "Purple Fringe Remover" action, as Luminars' lens correction doesn't have that option.  After I did that, I put my watermark on it, and saved it.  Another good thing about Luminar, like the others above; you buy, it's yours. And it's not that expensive. For less than what it would cost you to rent Lightroom, you can own Luminar.

Timelapse Software

I have used three different programs to compile timelapse sequences

1: Adobe Premiere CS6

2 LRTimelapse to use with Adobe LightRoom

3 Panolapse by Patrick Shyu

The first time I ever compiled a series of images was with Premiere. I did this after editing the images in Photoshop CS6 E. It was a bit confusing at first, but once I got the hang of it, the process was fairly smooth and the end result was good. Select sequence, and Premiere will export the video. Drawbacks: You have to own CS6 (or CC now) Photoshop and Premiere.  You can use other photo editors to edit your CR2/NEF/ORF/RAW files, though, but you would still need to own or rent Premiere.

LRTimelapse is a program to use with Lightroom. You have to run them both at the same time. I found it more than a little fiddly. Edit images, import them, select all then click on Metadata in Light room, while in LRTimelapse you load the images, select the options you want. Go BACK to Lightroom, Select All images, click on EXPORT, select LRTimelapse plugin. It will then open a menu in LRTimelapse, click on RENDER VIDEO. 

See what I mean by fiddly? 

With the price take of 249 Euros for the full version and 99Euros for the low end version, it's a heftly price tag, especially along with having to have Lightroom, Standalone (if you were lucky enough to have gotten it) or Creative Cloud.

Panolapse 1.25. "Freemium" software. Edit your images, save as JPGs. Select images, click on deflicker, choose what format to export and let it go. It will sequence you photos numerically, then de-flicker, AND auto adjust brightness for changes of shutter speed and ISO. The free version is limited to 1280x720 HD. The full version is $103AUD (it's on sale for 20% off right now.)

I just bought Panolapse.

Even when you give long detailed instructions

And show the results as to WHY, there are always Mansplainers. 

With the upcoming Blue Supermoon Eclipse, I gave detailed instructions on how to use a freeware astronomy program called "Registax".  It didn't take long for the usual Mansplainers to tell me THEIR way was better, or using a single focus image isn't any good, or how I was just wrong, or it was nothing but HDR, yadda yadda yadda. Even when I posted an example.

Every time I patiently explained why, the same mansplainers would com up with a different reason I was wrong.  Then I tried "momsplaining".  Now, I just roll my eyes and ignore them. 

On left is a single focused image of the almost full moon. The one on the right, is 20+ jpgs processed in Registax.

 

One would think that showing this would stop their arguments and derision, but no. Now I just roll my eyes and ignore them.

Just because you don't like the answer doesn't mean it's wrong

A guy made an announcement on an Olympus users page, to not use the Panasonic 100-400 lens, as it would grind and cause metal shavings.  I told him we had tried that very lens on 3 different Olympus M43 cameras without any problems.  I even got one for my birthday.

I told him I even bought the ex demo, showed him photos as proof that there was no problem metal shavings when mounting the lens.

He then said he tried several of them, and they all did the same thing.

I replied that if the same thing happened with several of the same make and model lens, the problem is more than likely the mount on his camera body, NOT the Panasonic lenses.

He was not happy with that.

If there had been any doubt about the decision for knee surgery

This morning I saw sparkling water drops on some pretty purple blossoms, and I noticed both my small Geraldton Wax seedlings (still called seedlings until they reach 1" across the base) were in danger of being swamped by weeds.

I pushed the camera out of the way, pulled the weeds out about 2ft diameter around them both, making sure to not shake off the morning water droplets.  I then proceeded to take macro photos of the blossoms.  I stood up from my squat, and it was all I could do to hobble back into the house.

I know, I know... we are supposed to suffer for our art, but dayam, my knee was killing me! Nope, no doubt now.

Geraldton Wax Blossom

It wasn't *too* bad

Yesterday was the first time I had been out on photoshoot since Sydney trip.  I managed it well enough, was rather tired and sore, but not overly so.

Not until this morning.  Creak, crack, wince, hobbled my way to the TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN ROOM.  After about 10 mins of imitating a centenarian, I was a lot less stiff.  Still kind of achey, but overall, not too bad.

Australian Dart – a variety of fishing bird/cormarant. 5D4, 100-400mkII, 1.4x teleconverter

There are definitely more fish in the sea.

You know, everyone goes on and on ad nauseum about Adobe Products. Why? It's not like they are the end all be all of image development/editing.  'Industry standard'? Adobe itself labeled themselves that, and it stuck.

Here is a list of equal, if not better, programs to use.  True, not all the Adobe plugins work with them, but many do (mostly the ones that were made to be used on more than one photo editing program)

Affinity - Non-destructive (you know, technically, as long as you don't SAVE the image, overwriting the original, they are all non-destructive) editing program, has both Mac and Windows version. Has features that you have to buy plugins to get the same result. Mixed bag on plugins made for Adobe products (ie Nik tools, they work but with cavaets) Full on camera raw editing, updated by Serif when new raw formats are available.  You do have to make a new 'pixel layer' when you want to do multiple edits on different layers, as Affinity doesn't do it automatically.

TopazStudio - Fully featured, non-destructive, camera raw editing. Has a free and a pro version. Works perfectly with TopazLabs plugins, as you would expect. TopazLaps and StudioPro isn't free, BUT you buy it once, and all your updates are free, even to new versions.

Alienskin Exposure X2 - again, non-destructive camera raw editor (I donated 5Ds, 5D4, 7D2 raw files to during development) Fully featured, and again works flawlessly with Alienskin Plugins. 

TwistedBrush Pro Studio - Not only an excellent art program, but a much underrated photo editing software. Again, I helped by testing and donating CR2/ORF/RAW files to improve the camera raw edits. You can use some adobe compatible plugins, but alas only 32bit.  Because of that 32bit limit, file size can cause the program to crash. Ken Carlino is looking into getting a 64bit version written.

ON1 Photo RAW 2017 - Crammed packed with features. Not only a raw editor, but great as a stand along photo processing/editing program. With layers, brushes, gradient tools, filters and presets, even a way to make your own custom presets and filters, you could use On1 as a plugin for Photoshop, or use it as a stand alone.  It's latest version even has lens profiles to correct for aberrations and distortions, BUT unlike DxO Optics, you can choose to not apply the lens correction (DxO forces correction for fisheye lenses) You can, if you choose, do all your edits and effects, and punt a high res JPG to a different photo edition if you want to use a specific plugin in a photo editing program.

Capture One - Also a fully loaded editor that until the latest version was so so slow. Again, non-destructive layer editing,  and as great as CO is, it can be a bit overwhelming.

Corel PaintShop Pro X9 - Non destructive layer editing, but you do have to make new layer as it doesn't make them automatically. (import image, duplicate layer, use a plugin. Duplicate result on another layer to keep doing other edits) Many of the plugins made for Adobe will work with PSPX9, but again, with a few cavaets. As with Affinity, you can use plugins that were made for generally any photo editing programs.

I know I've left a few out, but that was because I had iffy results, or that they decided to go the Adobe "rent me" method.

“Selfie-Centered”

Street Photography, Perth W.A.  Canon 5DmkIV, Tamron 24-70

Why do they have to make it so damned difficult?

Yes, I know that 123Cheese is gone, defunk, vanished into the bitstream.  That isn't the difficultly.

The difficulty is this: Photobookshop dot com dot au, Photobookclub dot com dot au, and The Designer all use the same program. Same layouts, same menus, same EVERYTHING... BUT, they can't read each other's finished products (and two of them are different branches of same freaking company!) due to encryption. Really, guys? Do you really think there is a black market in trading photobook formats?

So, how do I fix the problem of getting my 123Cheese photobook into any of the other.  The slow, tedious, repetitive open each of the pages in 123Cheese, screencap the windows, save as jpgs. THEN 'rebuild' the books in one of the other programs.

Doesn't that sound like fun?  (voice heavily dripping with sarcasm)

I got one 100 page book done, but need to take a break.