Dead Imac

After waking up late friday night from a nap, I went upstairs to work on some photos, and was shocked to see that my Imac was sick...very very sick.

I have seen the dreaded grey screen of death from my friends mac mini years ago, and it was the same dreaded sight that I saw went I went up to where my mac was. I touched the back of it and it was burning hot. Like it has a fever...hahahaha. So I turned it off and restarted it. Still no luck. So I decided just to deal with it in the morning.

Next morning I woke up and my Imac still wasn't working. I then proceeded to boot it up using my OSX disc and managed to do a disk repair through there. It said that there was a problem repairing my hard drive so I went ahead to format it. I installed OSX again just for the heck of it. Surprising thing was...it worked!

I then spent the whole day installing everything that was installed before. All my photo editing software and other stuff. It was working good for the rest of that Saturday.

Sunday night I took some shots and went ahead and edited them. I managed to save 1 file and was saving the second one when my Imac died on me again. This time the hard drive never recovered form the disk rescue utility I was using. So I decided to just replace the hard drive instead of buying a new one.

I ordered a new 1 tb hard drive from BH photo. In case it does not work, I can return it. That's why I love BH photo because they have an awesome return policy. The drive will not be here till for 2 days. In those 2 days of waiting with no computer my xbox 360 will be my best friend.

Hopefully the drive works...

The Canon 100mm f2.8 macro usm

Since switching to a full frame dslr, I was in a dilemma of whether replacing my lenses or just keeping them. I opted to replace most of them. Since switching to a full frame is a big difference for some lenses...especially the wide angle ones, I replaced my wide angles, though I also replaced my 70mm with a 100mm macro.


The Canon 100mm USM Macro is now my main lens in the studio for still life.

Sigma did a great job in creating the 70mm macro. It's focal length is excellent when you're using a non full frame camera as it becomes a 112mm. The Canon 60mm macro is the closest to being a 100mm on a non full frame camera. The disadvantage is that it is an efs lens which means you cannot use it with full frame bodies. The 70mm served me well till I got my 5d mk2.

For a full frame camera, the 70mm is a bit short. It does not give me enough working distance from subject to the tip of my lens, especially with the Canon macro flash installed, or a hood. I usually freak out bugs because I am way too close to them when I take macro shots...so instead of getting the shots, bugs usually would fly away. Using it as a general purpose lens was fine. Though the autofocus was whiny and it was way too slow even when you switch your focus to the non full focus mode. I needed something that would allow me better working distance for macro shots as well as a general purpose lens that focuses quickly.

The best replacement for my 70mm in my opinion is the Canon 100mm macro. It's a pretty well made macro lens that doesn't break the bank. They usually fetch around $550.00 brand new and around $400-$450 used. I browsed online for the best deal and I was able to get one for $409.00 used.


Installed in my 5d Mk2 with the lens hood and tripod collar.

3 days later I got it. No box, no instructions, only the lens. The lens though was perfect...no scratches, the glass was clean. It was pretty well taken care of. No signs of use whatsoever. So I slapped on a uv filter and slapped it in my camera. Here are the best features of this lens:

Very well constructed. Metal mount, plastic barrel although feels very well made for a mid range Canon lens.
Focus limiter switch works pretty well for macro or general use.
USM motor gives the lens fast silent focusing especially for general use.
Gives you around 6 inches of 1:1 ratio distance from the tip of the lens to your subject.
Focus ring is pretty wide. Feels well dampened but not too tight.
It does not extend when focusing. Very important for a macro lens.
Closes down to f32.
Sharpness is unbelievable. Though most macro lenses are built sharp.
The color rendition is superb.


You can see the strands of wood in the pencil with this shot. Sharpness is superb.

Usm motor allows you to tweak your focus after it has locked without switching between manual and auto focus. It does not rotate either during focusing. It also maintains it's original size even when you're into the 1:1 magnification, this prevents you from accidentally bumping your lens into your subject or the surroundings...although the 6 inches of minimum focus is enough not to let you bump your lens into whatever you're taking pictures of. The auto focus is so fast it's even useful for macro. I have tried this and the autofocus seems to pick up really close subjects too. The minimum f32 aperture is also very useful for macro photography if you need it.


Pretty useful lens for photographing bugs


Set your focus, then open up the aperture...to give you that awesome depth of field.


Look at the colors!

The thing that I didn't like about this lens is when you use filters like a uv filter, that it does not allow you to attach the Canon macro ring light directly to it. You would have to remove the filters first before you can attach the ring light. I would rather keep the filter in there to protect the lens even if it's a pain to remove it every time I attach the ring light. The only way around it is to attach an adapter to your filter which will allow you to attach the ring light adapter into the adapter that you just installed. In that case, there will be 3 attachments into your lens...the filter, the adapter and the ring light adapter. Pretty complicated huh?

Though it has a bit of shortcomings like the ring light issue and the lens hood not included issue, I still do love this lens. I still would buy another one if mine broke. I bought an aftermarket lens hood for it because they are cheap. I rarely use it though. Compared to my 70mm, they are pretty even in sharpness. The big difference I saw was the contrast and the color rendition of this lens. Most of my sample shots were not color corrected in lightroom. Shots usually are good straight from the camera.


Aside for adding a little brightness to the background, this image was almost straight out of the camera

For full frame cameras, this lens is excellent both for macro and general use. For aps-c cameras, this is still pretty awesome for macro shots, not too useful as a walk around lens though as it becomes a 160mm lens. For me, it's one of the best lenses ever made.

Sunset on a trail

Couple of days ago I went on a grassy trail hike. It is getting cold as it is fall and it is the perfect time to take your camera and shoot outdoors. The changing colors of the leaves of trees is always a perfect subject for nature photography. So a lot of photographers rejoice the coming of fall. Couple of weeks ago we went to a botanic garden, though the leaves hasn't completely changed colors yet. Though it is always a delight taking shots at a botanic garden. Although don't wait too long till the trees don't have any leaves at all.

I prepared by gathering the needed equipment. This was a hike so I put in my mind that I had to travel light, so I had to bring ONLY the necessary equipment needed. No extra flashes or heavy lenses that will weigh me down will go on my camera bag. So I packed my 5d, a 17-40mm, and a couple of filters for my lens. It was pretty sunny out so I left my tripod at home. I knew I was going out on a scenic shots trip so I left my telephoto at home.

So I set my camera for aperture priority, and then started walking. Most of the time I was using an f7.1 aperture as this aperture at that time of the day gave me an average of around f300/sec shutter speed at iso 100, not bad for capturing moving grass from the wind, also not a bad depth of field for scenic shots.


A 320th/sec shutter speed was enough to freeze the moving grass.

The trail was really nice. There were a lot of trees, grass and there was even a pond...which I heard was populated with turtles during summer. At the end of the walk, I looked at the horizon and the sun was already setting. So I took a shot of it.


I set this shot to where the pond is being enclosed by the trees and the grass.


Passed this mini creek in the middle of my hike.


That awesome sunset I captured before heading out to the car.

It's only a matter of weeks before the trees totally lose their leaves and it becomes too cold to walk around. Now's the time to do that autumn nature walk!

The Eye-fi Pro X2 Wireless SD card

Since getting the Ipad2 for my photography, I was wondering how can I transfer files into it with minimal hassle. I saw the Ipad camera connection kit but I was wondering if there was a better way to do it. I've heard a lot of horror stories about the camera connection kit that I decided to go on a different route (that is before I bought the ipad camera connection kit). I was looking at the 5d MK2 Wireless file transmitter from Canon but I cannot afford to spend almost $700 for it...that's almost the price of a new Imac that I wanted, a couple of hundreds more expensive. So I scrapped that idea.

Browsing around online, I found a link for the popular Eye-fi cards. I've heard of the Eye-fi cards ever since they were released but I was kinda skeptical about them. I thought maybe this is another one of those new gadget gimmicks that is circulating on the web. So I decided to do research on them online, and I found a couple.

I was blown away when I saw videos of people taking shots in their cameras and the images get uploaded to their Ipads wirelessly. Further research also says that the Eye-fi cards can actually do a direct transfer from the camera to the Ipad or Iphone even on a non wifi area. So I decided to try it out...at the expense of a hundred bucks.

Older dslrs such as the 5d Mk2, 50d, and older rebels don't use sd cards, which basically what eye-fi cards are. Unfortunately, all my camera bodies use CF cards. So the smartest runaround to this is getting an sd to cf card adapter with it. I decided to get the pro x2 version...which I suppose gives you a faster transfer time than the non pro versions. Good thing BH photo has a combo that has them both. You can get it here.

So I got it within 2 days. I opened the box and the Eye-fi card came in with an sd to usb adapter...to enable users to plug this card into their computers for the wireless setup in their home pc's. I set it up, I downloaded the software, and then downloaded the app for it for my Ipad. Setup was fairly easy, though the window that was supposed to setup my firewall gave me a bit of a problem. It crashed my machine once. I restarted and everything was good.


The eye-fi card comes with a usb adapter for plugging into your machine.

I then slapped the card into the adapter, then into my camera and started doing test shots. I set it up first to upload images to my mac. It was pretty easy setting things up to upload in your computer. It even shows a preview of what's being uploaded in real time. Pretty neat. Then I decided to try it out in my Ipad...and that's when it all went downhill...


It fits snugly into an sd to cf card adapter for use with dslrs that only take cf cards.

So I set up the direct mode transfer to my Ipad. The direct mode is the mode where the Eye-fi card directly uploads images into your device without a need for an existing wifi connection. This is really useful when you are outdoors shooting with an Ipad in your backpack and you have no existing wifi connection. This is the main reason why I bought the eye-fi card in the first place. I set my 5d to shoot in large format jpgs at first. The transfer seems to be working...around 7 seconds per image. Kinda in the slow side but not bad. Then I tried switching to RAW...

The RAW files took forever to transfer! It was just crawling...it took an average of around 25-30 seconds per image...most of the time it was slower than that. It was like waiting for all your images to transfer to your desktop via a card reader...and I mean this is just one image! I then took about 3-5 shots simultaneously...of course, that made it slower than before. It basically uploads your first image and waits for the next one till the previous image is done uploading. So I was waiting for around 5 shots to be uploaded in around 2.5 to 3 minutes. Now imagine photographing birds using a fast burst mode in your camera.

Now I am using a 5d Mk2...it's a 21 mp camera. That is one reason why the upload times are not that good. It might be better with a smaller mp digital camera. Although nowadays, dslrs are in the 12-18 megapixels...sure you can change the options for it to shoot in a smaller megapixel count, but some of us really wanted to use the full resolutions of our cameras. I do a lot of stock photography, and a smaller file size doesn't do me any good. Switching to jpeg formats also isn't an option for me as I love to shoot in RAW for greater flexibility.

So what's my verdict? The eye-fi cards seems promising. Honestly, the way I shoot, it does not work for me. Even the top of the line pro x2 card is pretty slow for RAW format file transfers. If I shoot casually using jpeg format I might consider it...but I rarely do that. Fashion and nature photographers won't be happy with the transfer times either. If you are a casual photographer using a digital point and shoot camera, or if you use jpg as your main image format, this might work for you. I will wait for the next generation of eye-fi cards. Hopefully the upcoming ones will give you better upload times for bigger files.


So after a day of trying it out, I went to the store and got me the Ipad camera connection kit. It is a slight of a hassle to install, but the transfer times from a camera to the Ipad is excellent, even using RAW files.


After a week of testing it out I read in an article that sd cards really don't work with cf card adapters because the camera basically cuts power off to the adapter after files are written...which cuts off the power while the eye-fi card transfers the file wirelessly. It also causes files to be corrupted. So far the file corruption happened to me twice in like 4 days of testing. In my opinion that is bad if you are photographing a wedding or some kind of a special occasion.

Still...after watching online how slow it was transferring files to a mobile device, even while using an sd dslr, it still is too slow for me.

The Ipad for photography

When the Ipad came out last year people wondered what it can do for all of us...or at least find a use for it...hahaha. I personally told myself that I'd rather get a laptop than a tablet. Went to a trip last year during summer and we had to bring along a laptop and an external hard drive...the laptop that we had had limited space in it so I had to bring along an old 20gb hard drive with us. Of course, setup was clunky. I had to plug the laptop into the wall, plug the hard drive into the laptop, plug the card reader into the laptop, then copy the files into the external hard drive. Setup was really a hassle.

Then the Ipad 2 got released this year. It's got dual processors, it's lighter and the exterior got an overhaul. So I considered getting one. Though I'm still not really impressed with the entry level storage for it. 16gb is like a single 16gb card for my slr...which holds around 500 images in raw file format. I needed something bigger than the 16. So I decided on the 32gb. Not bad for almost 2 16gb cards when were out away from home...of course you'll never really get to have the full capacity of the storage to yourself as you have to put into consideration the amount of space the operating system takes up...and of course, Angry birds.

So I got the 32gb Ipad and I was happy with it. Then IOS 5 came out...which made it even better. Wireless syncing, and wireless photo sharing with all my IOS 5 devices.


My very own Ipad2...Can't get my hands off of it.

Question is...how is the Ipad useful for photographers?

The Ipad is really small and thin. It's the same thickness and size of a magazine. Just put it in your camera bag and you are set. You don't even feel it's in there. 10 times better than a laptop sizewise. Setup is a no brainer, get the Apple camera connection kit and your Ipad instantly has a usb port and an SD card reader. I use cf cards for my cameras and the camera connection kit doesn't have a cf card reader, though the usb port allows me to attach my dslr to my Ipad to copy files into it. There are a lot on misconceptions about the usb adapter though. The usb adapter does give the Ipad a usb port, though it is not a usb port for everything. I've heard that you can actually plug in keyboards and other devices into it, I personally haven't tried this myself. I use the usb port just to plug in the camera and it works...and that's all I need it for.

Does the Ipad read RAW files? Of course it does. Does it resize it to be a file compatible to the Ipad? It does create a file for previewing but your RAW file stays untouched. How do you extract the files from your Ipad? Simple...plug it in your computer, open up Lightroom and Lightroom sees it as an external storage space. Grab files from there and save. It's really simple. The awesome thing about it is that, from camera to the Ipad, a 21mp dslr RAW file takes about 2.5 seconds to copy. That's even faster than my card on a card reader in my mac. If you're a casual photographer just taking snapshots in jpg format, you'll love the Ipad more as it can store more jpg files as this file format is considerably smaller than a RAW file.


The Ipad2 with my Canon 50d attached via the Apple camera connection kit. Still the best way to transfer files from camera to Ipad.

The preview in the Ipad is unbelievable. It's basically viewing it from your 27 inch Imac scaled down. And basically you can bring it anywhere, without the hassle of a laptop.

The 64gb one is the best one to get if you're a photographer. I got the 32gb and so far it works for me. Maybe my next one will be a 64.

The limitations of the Ipad against a laptop for me is negligible. Of course I cannot do full edits on it as opposed to a laptop...personally, I like doing my photos on a desktop...with a huge screen. Also the storage space is limited, but how much space do you really need?

What are the apps I use for it? I personally love PS express and Photogene. Two of the best mobile photo editing apps around. Wanna bring your online portfolio with you all the time? If you have a Smugmug account, download the Smugmug app for the Ipad. It is excellent!

So is it really worth getting it if you are a photographer? If you know it's limitations and it's runarounds you'd love it. I personally love it myself and I can't put it down.

Using the telephoto for flower shots

Using the telephoto lens for shooting flowers is an excellent idea if you are kinda tired of shooting close ups or macro. We all get that feeling of running out ideas when we shoot and it often happens to me. Actually it happens to all of us. Whenever I see flowers I get that urge to get really close and start shooting macro. Though in a lot of cases, the flower as a whole is a subject that sometimes gets overlooked.

The telephoto is an excellent lens for flower shots. It's not only used for shooting animals or subjects from a distance but it is also used for portraits as it gives you a washed out background because of its long focal length. This excellent feature is why it is a good choice for photographing flowers. You basically choose a subject...shoot...and the telephoto gives you that creamy, out of focus background. The 70-200 IS USM that I use gives me the perfect bokeh, or out of focus areas all the time.

Using a shallow aperture gives you a better bokeh. I usually use an f2.8-f4 for really out of focus backgrounds. This is where a long telephoto with a wide aperture excels...that's why they cost a lot. Also some lenses give you better bokeh than others. A good bokeh is something that looks creamy...not busy.

Photos from a storm

I was lucky to be home one afternoon when a very brief storm hit. I was relaxing watching tv one late afternoon from work when the urge to go out and take a sunset shot hit me. It has been crazy cloudy and stormy the past few weeks and the clouds were almost perfect everyday. Though the thought of going out with my equipment in rain really didn't get me that excited, I was so fortunate that lazy afternoon that I just grabbed my camera and went out to take a few shots...so I did and this was the site that I saw:


A beautiful rainbow just in front of me.

The weather was insane...there was a wind blowing, around maybe like 40-50mph, and the rain was crazy. It is really not that obvious with the pictures but it was nuts. So I just stayed for a while in the patio to wait the rain out. I then went out again to take another shot. This time, the light has changed dramatically within minutes. I took a couple of shots and I got one that was so much different than the last shot I did.


The rainbow was still there though the lighting drastically changed.

The rainbow shots were all done hand held. No time to go back inside the house to grab a tripod. Although it would have been nicer as I could have used a narrower aperture for a sharper shot, but I'd rather get the shot right there instead of messing around with my equipment. That was why the 17-40L is a very wise decision for that on the spot scenic shot.

I guess I was in that crazy time zone in the afternoon where light dramatically changes. Which is also the perfect time to snap a couple of shots. I was so lucky to capture the rainbow right in front of me, it was the perfect timing for everything.

The storm finally stopped and it left a very nice cloud formation west of where I was standing. So I took shots of the clouds with the silhouettes of trees bordering the image.


The clouds have been so dramatic the past few days. This time I had my camera ready.