That Pixel Geek

I just received the Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger V2s from Gadget Infinity. The cost was $32.95 plus $5.00 for “Regular Airmail.” It took about a week to arrive from Hong Kong.

My goal was simple… eliminate the PC sync cable from my camera to the strobes in my very small studio (as cheaply as possible).

The new setup: The receiver is plugged into a Novatron M500 using an old PC Sync cable. The transmitter is on my Canon 40D.

Overall it works ok. There are a few quirks that may be specific to my setup.

1) I must use 1/200th shutter speed. Anything else results in a partially dark frame.

2) Occasionally, it doesn’t trigger the strobe. Maybe 1 out of 20 times. However, I think this is a cable contact issue. After twisting the connection to ensure it is well seated, I’ve gotten better results.

The range is more than acceptable for what I need: 150′ (45 meters) indoors with no obstructions. Your mileage may vary.

Packaging is pretty simple.

The pc cable fits snug, but I found twisting it after inserted ensures fewer failed shots.

It includes this flash stand (that I doubt I’ll ever use). It’s hidden under the packaging. If you aren’t looking for it, you’ll accidentally throw it in the trash.

Transmitter on the Canon 40D.

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Mail.app seems to get slower and slower. Plus it crashes at least once a week. As I started looking around the web to find a solution I ran across this post from Tim Gaden at his blog: http://www.hawkwings.net/2007/03/01/a-faster-way-to-speed-up-mailapp/

He describes this solution:

Open Terminal, then run these three commands:

ls -lah ~/Library/Mail/Envelope\ Index
sqlite3 ~/Library/Mail/Envelope\ Index vacuum
ls -lah ~/Library/Mail/Envelope\ Index

I’ve just ran it myself and it only dropped the size of my index from 73MB to 60MB, but it DID speed up Mail considerably. I’ll have to wait and see if it helps the crashing.

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This tip is for my friend Scarb. For years I’ve used the Linux command “tail -f” for watching logs… but only recently did I discover its versatility for extracting parts of files.

Need to grab only the last 25 lines of a file?

tail -n 25 somefile.txt

How about the last 200000 bytes redirected to another file?

tail -c 200000 somefile.txt > newfile.txt

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I would like to improve the quality of my zoom lens, so I’ve started looking around the web for recommendations on replacements. As you probably know, the options seem endless. I’m even considering a couple of primes instead of one zoom.

Background: I only have two lens; the EF-S 17-85mm kit lens that came with my Canon 40D and a Canon EF 80mm 1.8.

Naturally, one of my first questions is… what focal length should I get? The 17-85 is a good range, but do I really use the different lengths? Could I just get a nicer, wide prime and physically move in or out to compose?

That got me thinking… I wonder what focal length I use most of the time?

The answer:
I use my 50mm 25% of the time
I use my 17-85mm 75% of the time

Specifically,
17mm: 17% of the time (Yes, I double checked the math.)
50mm: 25% of the time
85mm: 14% of the time
Most of the remainder is wider than 50mm (47%)

How do I know?
Phil Harvey has created a really cool command line tool called ExifTool that can scan all your photos and export a list! From there, you can open in Excel and evaluate your data. It works on Windows or Mac.

Conclusion
I think I will look for a better lens in the 17-55 range. And also something longer than 85mm.

Phil’s Website: http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

Documentation: http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/exiftool_pod.html

How it works: I use Lightroom on a Mac to manage my photos, so I navigated to my Pictures directory in terminal:

cd /Users/(myusername)/Pictures

then ran this script

exiftool -r -T -filename -focallength -ext CR2 2008 > 2008.txt

That scans all files ending in “CR2″ in the 2008 directory (AND all subfolders) and exports them to a file containing the image name and the focal length. The file is named 2008.txt. I opened the txt file in Excel and created a pivot table to find the sum of each focal length (or you could use another method).

Feel free to comment if you want to try it, but need help.

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nano /etc/rc.local
and add
/etc/init.d/zabbix-agent start

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Apple also introduced new MacBooks:

• Plastic case version starting at $999 (lowered price)
• Also metal enclosure models now available
• Faster graphics
• Same glass trackpad
• LED screen
• $1299 for the AI MacBook 13.3-inch display, 2GHz Core 2 Duo
• $1599 for AI MacBook 2.4GHz processor, 250GB hard drive, and a backlit keyboard
• Upgrades available include more RAM, 320GB drive, 128GB SSD, and video adapters
• Available today, in stores tomorrow

Best live blog is Engadget.

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Apple announced new MacBook Pros this morning. Main features include:

• New Processor (NVIDIA CPU and GPU on same chip, or separate)
• Display (LED, glossy)
• Trackpad (All glass, no hardware button, up to four-finger gestures)
• Unibody Construction (Very rigid)
• No FW400… only FW800, USB, etc.
• Mini display port. Requires dongle.
• Full access to battery and drives via bottom door
• 0.95 inches thick
• $1999 for 15.4″ LED-backlit display, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo/3MB L2, 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 memory, both NVIDIA chips, 250GB hard drive, slot-loading superdrive
• $2499, 15.4″ screen, 2.53GHz, 6MB L2, can upgrade any model to 2.8GHz
• Shipping today, hits the stores tomorrow

Here are a few links to the live transcripts.

Macworld, Ars Technica, Engadget

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There’s a near article at PDN Gear Guide that gives an overview of the Red One camera and how Photographer David McLain used it on recent photo shoot in Baja.

Link to Article

Link to Merge Group

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You don’t own it. You lease it. Read on…

We’ve been using the Rosetta Stone Spanish software for a couple of years, but not as much lately so we decided to sell it on eBay.

My listing was pulled after a few days. No message, no alert. Just gone.

Guess what… YOU CAN’T SELL IT

When I emailed eBay and asked why, they said “With regard to your item, your listing was removed because BSA (Business Software Alliance) (US) reported that the listing infringed intellectual property rights. Because BSA (Business Software Alliance) (US) is the verified rights owner in this case, we’re required to remove the listing.”

Obviously, I emailed BSA. Their reply:

“We, at the Business Software Alliance, act on our member companies behalf. They provide us with criteria to use to determine if an auction should be referred to eBay.

Your auction was shut down because Rosetta Stone’s products are copyrighted and unauthorized reproduction or distribution is illegal. In addition, Rosetta Stone’s End User License Agreement expressly states that the license to use this product is non-transferable.”

So, be advised. When you buy Rosetta Stone software, you will NOT be able to resell it without breaking the law.

Sound silly? Email Rosetta Stone and tell them.

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