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There's an update to the Canon Digital Rebel XT's firmware. The update (1.0.2): Fixes the phenomenon of extreme underexposure when using some lenses. Fixes the phenomenon of auto power off function failure when auto power off is set more than 2 minutes. Fixes the phenomenon of incorrect white balance when using an external flash. Can't […]

I'm in Columbus, OH through at least Friday covering The Memorial Tournament for The Sand Trap. Today, I saw Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus hit a ball to two feet, Vijay Singh hit a ball to one foot, and an amateur beat them all. Good times! Check out my coverage (and a lot of pictures) […]

Yay! Raw support is here! I'll update this post later when I've had a chance to play with it. Update: seems to work well. A bit slow to show the thumbnails, but I suppose I could just name my images properly to begin with. Dragging a .cr2 file (from a Digital Rebel XT) to Photoshop's […]

I picked up (well, it's being shipped to me) a Canon 75-300 IS USM lens (with hood and S&H) today for $350. New, this lens sells for $450 + S&H or so (B&H charges $415, IIRC). The one I bought has been used twice and it may not have the warranty - I don't much […]

I went to the zoo today with Little One and took some pictures. I'll link to a few on .Mac's HomePage as soon as HomePage ceases to experience problems… Almost all of the pictures turned out about as well as I expected, and there are some pretty nifty ones. I was shorted a little bit […]

Well, it looks as though Photoshop CS 2 (and Camera Raw 3.0) will not support the Digital Rebel XT. That sucks. I wonder how long I will have to wait…

For various reasons, including product reviews at The Sand Trap and a growing (but still quite small) interest in macro object photography, I'm considering building a "soft box" for photography. The soft box is, in case I'm using improper terminology here, a "box" built with translucent (like white cloth) sides, into which I can place […]

Just a quick follow-up on the blizzard from a day or two ago: it's now supposed to get up to 74° by Wednesday. You know, two days from now. These two pictures were taken mid-day yesterday (we got another six inches after it) and this morning, when it had already gotten up to about 42°. […]

A few quick links for my own purposes on creating good digital B&W images: Excellent B&W conversion B&W Conversion Santorini in black & white So there's that. The first primarily summarizes and links to the second and third.

You can vote for the 2005 Photobloggies now, and I've done so. I also scanned quite a few of the photoblogs and added many to PulpFiction. I was surprised, however, by the number of "photo blogs" that don't have any feeds - RDF, XML, RSS, Atom - nada! I'm also surprised at the surprising lack […]

The "other" book is still in the works, but I've come up with a new idea for a new book. If you're a digital photographer that knows his stuff (or her stuff), get in touch with me. I prefer AIM ("iacas") but email - or a comment here with a valid email address - will […]

Should I ever need a 6'x4' picture (yes, feet) printed for less than $75, I now know where to get it. Found it via a Digital Rebel Forum I've stumbled onto today. I took a panoramic photo (6 pictures stitched together) of Machu Piccu and wanted a larger print made. I emailed 3 different places […]

My Rebel XT has a 1.6 crop factor, which basically means that - in 35mm terms - a 135mm lens is the equivalent to a 216mm lens on a full-frame camera. This much I understand - simple math. What I'm not so sure about is "zoom" factors. I realize that "zoom factors" are not the […]

iPhoto's "Enhance" just plain sucks. So much so, I'm not sure why it's even there - a great stage demo, perhaps? I realize it's intended to be a one-click solution for those who don't know enough to adjust things manually, but it doesn't even seem to be good at that. It destroys pictures more than […]

ISO - Determines amount of grain or "digital noise." The higher the ISO, the more grain you'll see, especially in shadows. In bright light, ISO 100 works fine. In low light, higher ISO gets you reasonable shutter speeds and DOF. For sports, high ISO "freezes" action. As a general rule, use the lowest setting possible […]