My Other Blog

I like to share interesting stuff I find online with friends and family and usually do so by email.  This works for most items because certain things pertain to certain people where others probably wouldn't be the least bit interested.  However, there are other things that I feel like sending out a mass email about, but considering I highly dislike receiving mass emails myself, it would be rather hypocritical for me to send out mass emails to others.  Tonight, I found a really interesting article that I wanted to share with everyone, so I'm starting a blog just for my random thoughts and tidbits I find online.

Link

A Quick Suggestion: Backup!

More than once a week I find myself listening to the lower left palm rest of a friend's Macbook or Macbook Pro.  I'm listening for grinding, whirring, or the fatal click, click, silence that signifies the death of yet another 2.5" notebook hard drive.  Then comes the fun part - I get to tell the owner that the reason their computer has stopped working is that their hard drive has crashed, and while it will probably be covered under warranty, all their data- the six-page essay they've been working on for a week, all their digital photos, their (pirated) movies, and illegal music downloads are all gone.  Forever.  

This is certainly not just a Mac problem, and is actually just as common in PC notebooks.  However, all your data can be secured and backed up extraordinarily easily.  Now this is not something to put on your todo list.  This is not something to do next week, or whenever you get around to it. This is something to do today.  You should be making backups of your important data weekly at the least.  There are many utilities that can help you with this, but before we get into those, we need to find a place to store those backups that will be made.

There are two options for this:  Online, or an external hard drive.

Online options are relatively limited and tend to cost a bit more than external hard drive solutions.  However, in return for this extra expense, your backups are available to you anywhere you have an internet connection, and there's no way for this data to be lost if there's a catastrophe such as a fire where everything could be destroyed.  The top three options here are Amazon's S3 service, Box.net and Apple's .Mac service.

Amazon's service is unlimited, but charges you for putting data on the server, removing it, and storing it.  This is infinitely secure, very automated, and has the highest capacity of any online service, but charges you for it accordingly.  Pricing information is about half way down on the description page linked above.

Box.net gets you one gig for free, with 5 or 15 gigabyte services available for a fee.  There is no automation like there is with both the Amazon and .Mac services, but if you're looking to backup only the essentials, the free gig is better than nothing.

Apple's .Mac option gives you many many things in addition to online storage with automated backups, but gives you 10 gigs online with fully integrated functionality for $100/year ($8.33/month)

Moving away from online options, external hard drives are getting very affordable, and with all the available backup solutions, there's really no reason not to pick one of these up to save your data.  Once you have an external hard drive (links to hard drive deals at the bottom), here are a few options for back up utilities:  Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, and SuperDuper

My favorite: Time Machine.  Mac OSX 10.5 comes with this feature built in and setup couldn't be simpler.  You plug in your hard drive, your computer asks you if you want to use this hard drive for backup, you say yes, and you're done.  Your computer backs up hourly in the background and keeps those hourly backups for 24 hours.  You accidentally deleted an email you got this morning?  No problem, Time Machine has a copy.  Time Machine saves the hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for everything older than a month.  Price is free with Leopard, or $129 for the upgrade

My second favorite: Carbon Copy Cloner.  Bombich software released version 3.1 of this fantastic software just a few days ago.  The program creates a carbon copy of your hard drive onto an external one.  If your hard drive crashes entirely, hold down the option key and boot from the external straight into the system just the way you left it.  Easy, simple, and best of all, free!  (Donations accepted)

A third option I've also used is SuperDuper.  This is by far the most customizable, but with that comes additional setup time and effort that I just don't like to spend.  If you have specific files or intervals you'd like to backup by, this is the option for you.  $27.95

Free trials are available for all of the above, but no matter which works best for you, don't wait!  Spend the small investment of time and/or money to save your data!

Cheap External Hard Drives Galore

... and a whole website devoted to affordable hard drives

The Point & Shoot Convenience

Now that I've written a few articles explaining the many benefits of a DSLR camera, there is one thing that DSLRs are not quite up to snuff on, and that one thing is compact size.  If I have my Nikon D80 DSLR with me, it is because I have specifically blocked out a portion of time to go shoot photos.  I lug books, paper, notebooks, my MacBook Pro, and anything else I need for classes around every day.  I just don't use my camera enough to justify carrying it around 24/7.  However, point and shoot cameras have come a long way in just a few years, and while they can't match the quality of a nice DSLR, when that moment comes that you really wish you had your camera, a pocket-sized point and shoot is far better than nothing.

There are many nice point and shoot style cameras out there, and I've used many different types and styles.  In general, Nikon, Fuji, and Canon are the leaders, while olympus goes for a certain niche of the market (weatherproof/waterproof).  Sony, Samsung and Panasonic make very decent cameras as well, but my personal favorites are Nikon and Canon.  In my experience, Sony cams tend to lack accurate color, Samsung makes their cameras out of a brushed nickel, making them very durable, but too heavy, and Panasonic's Lumix line tends to lack build quality and feel cheap in the hand.

The most important things in a point and shoot are:

1. Small size - if you can't fit it comfortably in your pocket/purse, you won't carry it.
2. Speed - if your son is about to jump from the swing set, you have about half a second to turn your camera on and take that photo.
3. Image stabilization - When he jumps from that swing, you might want to be able to make out that it is indeed your son jumping, not just an ambiguous blur!

Nikons and Canons will give these features, with the highest quality output, at the best price for the quality.

My current point and shoot is a Canon SD800IS.  This camera has survived many scrapes and falls, and sits in my pocket nearly every moment I'm not at home.  The camera features image stabilization, a wide angle lens, and packs all the quality I need into the photos I take with it.  I absolutely love my 800, but it can be a bit large for some users.  I would recommend the SD1000 which packs the same photo quality without the wide angle lens in a much smaller package.

Here's a link to a small gallery with some pictures taken by my SD800

GPS - Different Day Different Route

The producers of my first GPS unit, TomTom, have recently released a new couple units (the GO 730 and GO 930) with a very interesting new feature called IQ Routes.  The feature uses data collected from other TomTom GPS units over the past year to determine the fastest route from point A to point B based on what day it is.  This could prove to be a very useful feature, although many issues could crop up such as days with heavy snow or traffic wrecks, but the more pressing issue with these units is the realization  that TomTom is not only able to track an individual GPS unit wherever it is, but is collecting and analyzing this data on an individual basis.  For privacy nuts like myself, this causes concerns as to who can access this data and how closely tied it is with a single individual.  Hypothetically speaking, if one were to register a GPS unit with its manufacturer, anyone with access to the database could track where your GPS (and presumably you) are at any given moment.

A disturbing thought to say the least.  Is my concern on this a bit much - or does the ability of GPS producers to follow units present a true privacy issue?

Hiatus

Well, the past week has been filled with midterm exams and essays and the next week is spring break, so as of 6:00 AM tomorrow morning I'll be off to Cancun for a nice week of good times with the family.  I'll be back and posting about a few things I've checked out recently as soon as I get back, but for now I need to get packing and get some sleep!

In the meantime, feel free to check out a couple things I'll be writing on upon my return:

A New Smart GPS

and The Best Laptop Case I've Ever Used

I'll be back soon!

How To: Use Your DSLR Camera Settings

The article on the basics of DSLR controls explained how your camera works internally.  This article is a followup to explain how to manipulate these settings on your DSLR.

Using The Settings

Now you have an idea of how the settings work, but using them is the only way to really get a handle on how each setting really affects your pictures. I'll explain how to use these settings on both the Nikon D-80 and the Canon E0S Digital Rebel XTi.

As you can see below, these two cameras have very different looking mode dials, but in reality, both serve the same general purposes. The Nikon is on top and the Cannon on bottom.


Each camera has the same basic modes: Auto (green on both), P (Program Mode), S/Tv (shutter priority/Time Value), A/Av (Aperture Priority/Aperture Value), M (Manual) and a slew of situation modes.

I recommend using auto and the situation modes if you're just starting out. These will help you identify what looks best in different situations and once you have a hold on what you like best, you can start to manually set your camera to match those settings in other situations.

Auto

You point your camera and press the button - the camera attempts to figure out everything to end up with a balanced image.

Program

This mode is very helpful for taking a little bit of control, while allowing the camera to still have its say in what it thinks will make for a balanced photo. When you move your camera's dial on this mode, both shutter and aperture will settings will change to allow the correct amount of light into the lens, but the camera will limit you to settings that are appropriate to avoid over or underexposing the image. ISO is set manually in this mode as well.

Shutter Priority/Time Value

This mode allows you to adjust the shutter speed manually and allow the camera to choose an aperture that allows enough light in for the shutter speed and ISO you have set. A high shutter speed could be used to take a picture of a race car traveling 100mph, and make it appear to be completely stationary in the middle of the track, or maybe more practically to take a picture of your dog running around in the back yard without the slightest hint of blur.

Aperture Priority/Aperture Value

In the same way that Shutter Priority allows you to choose a shutter speed and the camera picks an appropriate aperture, this mode allows you to choose an aperture and ISO of your choice and uses the best shutter speed based on the settings you've chosen. An example of how this could be used would be if you're wanting to take a family portrait and want to make sure everyone is in focus, you would set your aperture at a high f-stop.

Manual

Pretty literal - you set everything. The ISO, the shutter, the aperture, and a plethora of other things can be set in this mode.

Well, that covers most of the basics for getting started with taking better and more creative digital photos, but that's just the point!  These are the basics and so much more can be learned by looking at others' photography for inspiration and finding your own style to shoot - so get out and start taking pictures!

The New eHarmony: Apple Stores

A girl I know just came and asked me if I ever got hit on while working at the Apple store -granted, I can be pretty oblivious at times, but I told her that I honestly have no recollections of getting hit on by a customer while I worked there. I asked her what brought this question on, and apparently Cosmopolitan magazine just listed Apple stores on their top places to pick up guys. Their rationale is that "Most guys are natural gadget lovers, and with sales of iPods and MacBooks skyrocketing, more men than ever are stopping by Apple boutiques. The vibe at the stores is conducive to man meeting too: You can check your email among cuties, take a free workshop on anything from Photoshop to podcasting (a great opportunity to strike up a conversation), or just survey the, ahem, good-looking merchandise."

So for all you single girls (or desperate guys - kidding, of course) get to an Apple store asap!

Shoot Better Photos: Basics of DSLR Controls

When a photographer starts talking about shooting photos, words and acronyms like Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO, MegaPixel, White Balance, or AF Area can be talked about.  The problem is that a lot of people have no idea what these terms mean.  Books have been filled explaining these ideas, so I'll try and keep this entry as filled with information as possible, without overwhelming everybody with too much all at once. This article will go over the basics of what these terms mean and how they can be used, and I will follow up on these controls work on your DSLR in another article. 

On a side note, if you have a point and shoot camera (anything pocket sized), these controls are generally not available on cameras that size.  

Let's start at the beginning - shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.  These three settings control how much light gets into the camera and how that light is received by the camera's sensor.  In order to take a balanced picture, the amount of light that reaches the camera's sensor has to be just right.

When a picture is taken, the lens opens up for a specific amount of time at a specific width. This allows just the right amount of light to get into the camera's sensor.  This light reaching the sensor is what produces an image.

If too much light gets in, you get an "overexposed" picture with lots of white and washed out details.  

However the opposite is also true.  If too little light gets in, the image is "underexposed" with black areas and not much definition.

Luckily, your camera is smart enough to balance these settings to get your picture correctly exposed almost every time.  As you can see here, the camera slightly overexposed this picture on automatic mode.  The wall above the speaker is washed out with no definition - this is what can be avoided using manual settings.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is a measure of how long the lens stays open.  A faster shutter speed, 1/100 of a second or higher, will allow you to "freeze frame" whatever is in front of you, but lets less light into the camera.  In an indoor setting, this will usually cause the image to be underexposed without the aid of flash.  A longer shutter speed will allow more light into the camera, but can cause motion blur.  A tripod can be infinitely helpful to stabilize the camera and prevent blurring.  A good rule of thumb for handheld shots is about 1/30 of a second to keep from blurring.

Aperture

Aperture is sort of like the pupil of your eye in that it opens wider as light decreases to let in more available light.  If you have a quick shutter speed, a wider opening in the aperture will allow more light to enter the lens.  The diameter of an aperture is measured in f-stops. A lower f-stop number widens the aperture and allows more light onto the camera sensor.  Higher f-stop numbers make the camera's aperture smaller so less light hits the sensor.  Aperture can also have an effect on the depth of field in the image.  Higher f-stops (smaller diameter, less light getting to the sensor) allow more of an image to be in focus, and if you have enough light, this is usually a good idea to make sure your subject is in the best focus.  Lower f-stops allow for a very cool isolation of your subject by blurring out the details of anything in front or behind it.

These two concepts are very interrelated in that the faster the shutter speed, the larger the opening of the lens and vice versa.

ISO

So now that we can control the amount of light that gets into the camera which is very helpful if we have an ideal amount of light wherever we're shooting.  However, we live in the real world and shoot pictures in many places where the lighting is far from perfect.  For these situations, we can use ISO to control the camera sensor's sensitivity to light.  ISO 100 is the norm for outdoor shooting and will offer superb color and image rendering.  Higher ISO's will allow brighter pictures with less light, but this comes at the expense of image quality.

If you're new to all this, hopefully I haven't caused your brain to explode quite yet!  Just keep in mind that the best way to learn about your camera and how setting work is to just go out and shoot photos.  Start to play with some of the settings and see if you can make any cool effects, and if all else fails, your camera has a manual that will help explain these settings in more detail.

Good luck, and happy shooting!