Category Archives: Photography

Linux Raw Image Management

I’ve steered clear of RAW photography for some time. Maybe it’s the extra few steps required to get a finished product, or the very large file size, or just that “it’s not jpeg!”
I changed the quality mode on my 20D to RAW this afternoon and was shocked when it told me that I could only take 79 shots! *gulp*
I fired off a shot, of an old Honda parked in front of my car and as I was in a hurry, forgot to do any more.
Later on I went searching and found a number of sites:

  • Raw Digital Photo Decoding in Linux – Dave Coffin’s dcraw seems to be the basic library that everyone else builds their GUI tools on. He went to the trouble of decoding the various RAW formats in existance.
  • Nikon D70 under Linux – plenty to read here, including a section on noise removal and links to a few GIMP noise removal plugins I must try out!
  • RawPhoto – the author says it’s beta quality code, but it works. I haven’t tried it yet however.
  • UFRaw – you can install this in Debian with apt-get install gimp-ufraw. I tried it. It works, now I have to read the user-manual to figure out what all those controls mean!

I’d post an example RAW photo but the only one I have is nothing to write home about so you’ll just have to wait in line like everyone else!

Naval Ships in Cork Harbour

Today myself, Ryan and AJ went down to see the various naval vessels docked in Cork Harbour.
Ryan has already posted some great photos and here’s some of mine here. The URL will change but I’ll update this post when it does!
I had a great time, the Germans got a great kick out of seeing a crazy photographer lying down on the quay taking snapshots of a coiled rope, but they did pose for a photo afterwards! It’s a pity my camera crashed minutes later and several of my shots were ruined 🙁

Sit-in at city shop

I went into town this morning and came across this group of protestors on Princes Street. I didn’t know it at the time, but they were employees of O’Donovans Butchers, a 105 year old company with a premises on the street. They had all been let go the previous day. The Evening Echo has more on their front page.
The workers were protesting because they were laid off almost a week early with very little compensation despite many years of service in some cases.

Evening Echo

Dust on my Sensor! Must Clean It!

There’s dust on the sensor of my 20D. I need to remove it. Here’s a few bits I found.

  • Ken Rockwell has many tips, as usual
  • This review of IMS DSLRClean looked very promising until I found the exact same one here too! Is it a paid-for product placement?
  • Lots and lots of valuable information here.

Gulp! I hate the thought of wiping anything against my camera sensor!

Millennium Park loosens its photo rules

Looks like a win for photographers! Pro photographers who wanted to shoot in Millennium Park in Chicago had to have a city permit. That was only changed last month, so maybe I’m lucky that my 20D didn’t attract the attention of local security!
I would have loved to get a few shots of the Bean, but it’s being renovated and polished now, and was under a canopy. (via)

Digital SLR cameras: Canon Digital Rebel and Nikon D70s

Good run-down of the Canon Digital Rebel and Nikon D70s in this article by Philip Greenspun.

Digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras are the standard tool for serious photographers. With the recent introduction of cameras such as the Nikon D80 and the Canon Digital Rebel XTi the market for digital SLR cameras has expanded tremendously. A point-and-shoot compact digital camera can offer reasonably good image quality but a digital SLR, which usually looks a lot like an old standard 35mm film camera and may use the same lenses, offers the following advantages:

* accurate, large, and bright optical viewfinder
* fast operation and large controls
* excellent image quality in low “available” light situations when it is necessary to use higher ISO speeds
* interchangeable lenses

Compact Disc Effect

Mike Johnston asks are we getting used to paying a premium for new tech?
I think it’s always been that way. Technology is expensive when new but rapidly goes down in price. Digital camera tech is advancing at such a rate that anything older than a few months old then it can be very obsolete.
As Mike says, with regards to the new Canon XT and NIkon D50, the price is getting closer to a more realistic level. Digital cameras have reached a level where they are challenging and surpassing film in terms of quality and that tech is getting cheaper. It’s no longer necessary to buy the most expensive model.
The same is happening with PC sales too. Who needs to be a 4GHz CPU when a much cheaper 2GHz machine will run your web browser just as well?

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