MacBook Pro

Dell 2408WFP

You can evidently see that the Dell shows a purple instead of a blue. Very disappointed was I to think that a screen on which I just dropped some hard earned, can’t even display “BLUE”!

and then…

I just thought I would open it up the images in Firefox – just to check…. and voila

Unfortunately after a few more tests like the above – it seems across OSX is the same thing – ie. Finder when displaying the above photos – merely shows it in shades of purple as well.Now the only reason I even came across the fact that it could be an application specific error – is when I look at the photo in Lightroom 1.4, depending on which screen I have the image on – it changes the colours to suit the screen. So my question is – if Lightroom can do it – why can’t OSX?

Update

After re-calibrating both monitors with the Gretag Macbeth i1 Display 2, I have composed some windows together to show the difference between different applications and their adherence to the needed colour management.

The applications I used for this test, and in this specific order are:

1. Safari3.1 (5525.13)
2. Lightroom 1.4
3. Firefox 3.0b4
4. Preview 4.1 (469.2.1)
5. Photoshop CS3

Dell 2408WFP

The peculiar thing about the Dell, is that Lightroom actually showed a very strong purple instead of blue, and then after about a minute – without me physically interacting with the computer – it simply changed to the correct colour. Which is depicted in the shot above.

MacBook Pro

Analysis

It seems that in the initial shot with the 2408WFP, Safari obviously does the worst, showing a blatantly purple where there should be blue. Other applications vary slightly in the shades of blue, but otherwise display a fairly closely matched colour.

When it comes to the MBP to display the same set of images, Safari, Lightroom, and Photoshop – all display a shade of purple instead of blue.

The annoying part is that whilst writing this – if leaving the  specific application on either screen – it adopts the correct colour profile, and displays the correct colour.

As such – I have no choice but to personally conclude that it seems that OSX isn’t informing the application that it has been moved to another screen in a timely manner.

There have been reports that the Dell uses a new backlighting system that the i1 is finding difficult to actually meter, yet to me it seems there’s more software problems at play here under the bonnet of OS more than anything else.

Can’t believe I stumbled onto this shortcut, as its exactly what I wanted to do. You see, I didn’t want to disable the multimedia keys as defined by default in OSX – as it would lead me to having to hold Fn to do one-key thing such as volume. So I went about pressing everything I could – and by mistake I came upon the following shortcut.


Fn + Tab

Which hides both – your left and right panes.

Quite useful for both development view [at least until Adobe decides to provide secondary monitor support], and grid view.

Before:

.. and After:

So how does one provide the appropriate backup solution to safeguard their cherished memories? My general approach to backing up the photos is by no means simple, yet it does the job.

Just as a disclaimer – the main application that I use is unfortunately Windows only – although a similar setup can be achieved using rsync.

Here goes:

1. Download the images off the camera using Lightroom, which simply stores them in the yyyy-mm-dd format
2. SyncBackSE then automatically mirrors the newly added images onto a separate hard drive in my T60’s expansion slot, for a pseudo RAID-1 solution
3. When I’m at home there are two states for my laptop, either docked or free and about. In either case, my network drives get mounted. Once this occurs, the local SyncBackSE copies the images straight onto my server.
4. The server’s two main backup drives are configured in a RAID-1, using Adaptec 1210SA adapter
5. I then have another copy of SyncBackSE installed on the server, which once a week copies all the files from the RAID-1 drive, onto a third drive within the server. This gives me some time to recover shots if I did delete any.
6. Once a month or there about – I also have an external drive which I merely copy manually and then store at a friends house.
7. As mentioned in the previous step, a third drive is given 1 week of lead time prior to being updated. Now in order to solve the geographic problem of having all the backups under the one roof – I have a Site-to-Site VPN with a relative, for whom I purchased a 500GB drive, onto which I then backup once a week.

The great thing about this setup is that as soon as a file is added by me or I modify tags within Lightroom of a photo, the change is automatically replicated across 4 drives – just in case, and overall – each image exists in 8 places.

Pros:

• Quick and automated backup solution
• When I’m travelling – I still utilize the complete backup cycle – by connecting via a VPN directly to the server using my laptop in an internet cafe – and provided they have enough UP bandwidth – I’m done uploading in 20-30 minutes, and my server then takes care of everything.

Cons:

• This occurs within a one physical domain (provided my laptop is at home at the time) – so should a fire occur, the complete setup is futile – as everything is burnt.
• There’s a finite amount of space available on my laptop, and although it wasn’t a problem when I shot JPEG with the 300D, now with the ease of RAW processing within Lightroom and ability to shoot it easily with my 40D – one days outing ends up being about 1-2 GB.

Solution to the first problem is in the next step of my backup workflow, and to the second problem I’ll cover in a later post.

In order to help distinguish between my drives, I have a naming scheme for them. I grab the names out of Greek mythology, sometimes even attempting to match the name to the task of the drive.

Here’s a diagram of a backup solution that works for me:

If anyone finds this useful/too-much – am interested to hear your opinions. Feel free to share how you do it – and any suggestions you may have.

Lets have a look at some of the main new updates/fixes [complete list available over at Adobe]:

XMP bug – where Lightroom, upon having the “Automatically Update XMP metadata” setting – would run like a dog and simply become un-useable.
1:1 previews – Lightroom used to ‘ignore’ your request to disgard any full previews after a specific time-frame. I ended up [and I'm sure so have others] with over 5GB of ‘previews’ – which were supposed to be discarded on a daily basis.
Metadata Panel – If you’re a Windows user, you would have noticed intermittent display problems when trying to drop down the Metadata Panel.

As shown by the above, this is merely a fix-pack, and nothing else. Which is unfortunate given the feature-set brought along by the initial 1.1 update.
This tells us that either Lightroom was released as a Beta in V1.0′s clothes, and the real deal was provided in the form of 1.1 release.

Given the above performance, we shouldn’t be seeing any more updates for another 6 months. After which 2.0 will hopefully be released encompassing what I find missing in Lightroom:

• Dual monitor support – common guys [and girls], you can have detachable panels in Photoshop – and not in Photoshop Lightroom.
• Export Watermark embedding – what is available now on ‘Export’ – is a joke. There are workarounds, such as droplets in Photoshop; yet they either are too time consuming – or simply take too much time. Lightroom is about simplifying the photographers workflow, so give us a customizeable export tool.
• Smart Collections – I just wanted to look for all photos that I haven’t added any keywords to, and then thought I’d save that search for another day – guess what – you can’t! Lightroom doesn’t support smart collections of any kind. A quick look in google, revealed it’s a well known problem/limitation with Lightroom. Fingers crossed this will be addressed in the next version.

Now you can jump for joy – as right now ACR supports 40D

Also note that on the page it lists Lightroom 1.2 as available also, yet this has been reportedly false. which is available for download over at Adobe

If anyone has attempted to import from 40D into Lightroom, they might notice that all the images are rotated 180%.

Windows picks up the correct way up, yet Lightroom simply doesn’t.

I hope Adobe will be quick to remedy this problem, as well as update the RAW converter to accommodate the 40D

Update

Having a further look into it – I noticed this only occurs when you connect the camera directly to the computer, as opposed to extract the CF, and using it within a reader.

Also windows didn’t automatically rotate the photos when looking at them through explorer, so possibly this is a Windows Vista problem, and not Lightroom.

If anyone in XP or OSX can reproduce this – do post.

Update 2

After trying this with Lightroom 1.3 – the issue still persists.

Not fixed yet.

I will merely mention several things.
I purchased the kit, which included the 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens.

Initially I was considering of purchasing the 400D, although after having a handle of my friends 350D [which practically has the same physical dimensions] – I decided that the camera felt … feminine. Not the build of it, but more so that actual ‘lack-of’ grip. It was simply too small in my hand.
To overcome this – I thought of getting the battery grip, and upon a visit to the local CameraHouse – I didn’t like that either, as the seams of the battery grip didn’t meet up properly with the base of the 400D. This resulted in the camera simply not feeling right, plus it was smaller than my 300D!
Then I envisioned purchasing the 30D, but that thought quickly faded, as I’d be investing in old[er] technology. So I set my sights on the 40D.

Upon driving 90km to the store I ended up a happy camper. So how did it fare?

Body

Holding this puppy makes me feel like Kim Jong-il with his finger on the button. The finish of the body can be described like Vista – without the sarcasm – “Wow”. It is quite solid, and I have yet to drop it, hopefully I won’t be testing that feature.
The LCD is simply stunning, large [3.5"] and the LiveView is quite nice, if ever-so subdued and seemingly dull.
The buttons and their layout will be familiar to all previous Canon SLR users.

Lens

The kit lens is nice and bulky so it has a right balance with the body. The USM is very quick to focus, and the IS helps you get those photos you previously discarded due to being too blurry.
One gripe, and the main gripe I have with the lens is its ability to focus. I hope I just got a bad copy of this beast, but it simply cannot focus properly. I end up with images that are way too soft to be appreciated. At first I thought it was the camera, yet upon donning the 50mm 1.8 II and seeing the exceptional images it produced I simply decided to take the lens back, which I’ll be doing once the store opens up on Monday.
So far – that is it. There are too many features to mention that this camera contains, which is most likely more than an S-Class Mercedes.

Overall

Extremely happy with the camera, not so much with the kit lens.

UPDATE

I did a few test shots, to outline what I believe is a pretty bad copy of the 17-85, or perhaps as some have suggested the new focusing mechanism in the 40D playing up with a lens that can’t go f2.8..

Lens – 50mm 1.8 II

Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/160
FStop: f/2.2

Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/60
FStop: f/3.5

Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/50
FStop: f/4.5

Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/30
FStop: f/5.6

Lens 17-85 IS USM

NOTE: Check the focal length

Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: 1/60
FStop: f/4

Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: 1/30
FStop: f/5.6

Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: 1/13
FStop: f/9

Focal Length: 35mm
Exposure: 1/50
FStop: f/5

Focal Length: 35mm
Exposure: 1/30
FStop: f/6.3

Focal Length: 53mm
Exposure: 1/40
FStop: f/5.6

Focal Length: 53mm
Exposure: 1/25
FStop: f/6.3

Focal Length: 85mm
Exposure: 1/25
FStop: f/5.6

Focal Length: 85mm
Exposure: 1/15
FStop: f/7.1