Be Excellent To Each Other

Indeed. No-one has ever before had a problem with Apple devices. This is the very first.

It worked fine till iSteve resigned...

I get something similar with my Nikon; occasionally images import and show "Unsupported image format". This is RAW files via an SD card reader. However, it's just the embedded preview JPEG -- double clicking to view the image full screen makes it show, and if I apply any edits, Aperture re-generates the preview JPEG and the problem goes away. I've put this down to either a dodgy card, dodgy reader, or some minor software glitch. This sounds less serious than your problem, though, Trooper.

Try importing some images into iPhoto. Also, find them in the Finder and open them in Preview, see if that works. This will tell us if it's a problem with the system-wide RAW libraries or Aperture itself.

I've just tried importing via image capture, in image capture the files have a thumbnail before importing, after import the files can't be opened in preview, nor do they have a thumbnail in Finder.
Which leads me to believe the problem certainly isn't with Aperture and I would be surprised if it is a problem with the iMac...

I'll try the Windows machine in a bit.

Hah!

Quite obviously, I needed to change the communication method in the camera menu from "normal" to "ptp"
Ah well, that's that mystery solved, although i'm still none the wiser.

Incidentally I found this out by trying to connect the camera to Windows 7, and it wouldn't even connect. A quick google for "windows 7 canon 300d driver" found a hundred people with the same issue, all being told by Canon that they need to resinstall their ZoomBrowser software, which didn't do anything.
One forum, had one post in the middle of a thread, from a guy who called up the Dutch Canon support line and they told him about the communication setting on the camera itself. Hey presto! Good to see Canon know their arse from their elbow

Buy a Nikon.

We really need a dance smilie.

My tamron 18-250 is here :dance: other two lenses are sold - took them down to the London Camera exchange. They offer ebay prices on a lot of things so it's worth going there first, granted it's a pita waiting for a cheque but you don't have to worry about paypal or delivery/chargeback problems.

Before anyone starts I am exactly even on this gear change and the two lenses I sold were free in the first place.

Looks like this lens does true macro as well but it's going to need a hell of a lot of lens correction at 18

Only 1:3.5 rather than 1:1. Looks like a great lens though Decca.

It's the same opticly as Nikon's 18-200 VR at 1/3 of the price. Clearly not as good as primes or the 18-55/55-200 VR combination* and you need to go to iso 400 to compensate for the poor low light (more of a problem for me because the D300's iso handling is showing it's age) . Sweet spot is 5.6 under 79mm and 8 is sharp corner to corner across the whole range. Not a lens for tracking fast moving objects but will be fine for a walkabout. I'll know more after the chatsworth show tomorrow - no red arrows btw because of the accident.

Not even sure I will bother saving for another lens for a while, my 35 is attached 90% of the time - might look at macro extension thingies for the 50mm for next year's butterfly though, any recommendation?


*I would have had to buy both.

Recommendations for extension tubes? Most folks go for the £100 Kenko Auto set, for full control. But if you're planning on mounting/reverse mounting your 50mm with it's aperture control ring (it does have that, yes?) you could just get cheap extension tubes for about £20.

Just tested it, not so much zoom creep as a yo-yo effect.

No I have no new kit. Been playing around with PS elements - I bought it on black friday for buttons then got given my CS5 key and not touched it since. Having looked at it again with new knowledge I'm not sure if it's not actually slightly better than CS5 for basic photo editing. It has all the usual curves and whatnot, high pass filter, content aware healing brush, white balance/grey tools, gradient, straightening tool and this smart brush tool which is a bit "hang on this fucking thing just did something in 3 seconds that took me 40 mins to do manually"

One big bonus for nikon users is that it has a convert to sRBG button. Nikon has a serious problem with NEF and Lightroom going all funky and converting to adobe RBG which a lot of printers can't read, with this I can go LR -> Elements and cut out the conversion to jpeg first.

If I were scoring I would say it's a great program well worth the price tag let down by the fact that a lot of the smart fixes treat you like a 5 year old but if you want to go deeper and explore what it can really do it goes "lol you are on your own with that love"

Oh, card reader turned up, pictures transfer fine on that, and it's much faster than direct from the camera.

I may have just bought a Sigma 150-500mm beast lens.

I look forward to appraising photographs of your beast, sir.

Is that for taking photos of Mars? From Pluto?

No.

I hope you also hired a Sherpa to cart it around for you...

It was inevitable.

Craster doesn't need no 500mm lens to get up close and personal with badgers.

Lightboxes

For reasons that are pretty obvious, I find myself taking close up photos of cupcakes quite a bit at the moment, and it is a pain the arse making sure the background is good, the light is right etc... Which got me to thinking about lightboxes.

http://www.digital-photography-school.c ... light-tent

Something like this would be pretty cheap to make and looks pretty good for what I want! My only problem being that I would only be able to photograph individual cakes in it, and not whole boxes full.

What do you guys use?

Could you fashion a box with translucent paper on the bottom? It would let a lot of light through from the lightbox and might look quite striking.

I'm honestly not sure how lightboxes work, and I have no photography knowledge to speak of, but as all the detail on a cupcake is by its very nature, on the top. Won't lighting it more from underneath lose that detail?

Striking is good from a picture sense, but maybe not from a product sense

Then you don't need a lightbox, sir

But seriously, look in to 3 point lighting if you want some excellent pictures. A backlight defines edges and highlights.

There's a whole specialist industry around food photography. Be prepared to be making cakes that might not be fit for eating in order to make them look better on camera.

You need something like this really: http://www.photographyxxl.co.uk/?utm_so ... 0783627681

The lightbox I use is really for looking at negs, but I just use it as an uplighter among other things.

I fear we are going to far down the road of photography perfection

All I want is a place to take photos with no background or time of day, quality of light worries

Hmm... that does look pretty swish, but at £120 it should be
The home made version would probably cost me about £20, but then it doesn't come with tripods and different colour backgrounds...

And why would I buy that one, when this one looks to be pretty much the same but for £85?
http://www.photographyxxl.co.uk/studio- ... rouds.html

Because I'm not your personal shopper and I only had time to dig out an example to show you, you ungrateful turd.

x

That was an actual question, I don't understand the difference between the two

Erm I bought one for about £30 from amazon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Studio ... 837&sr=8-1

Can't you jsut make one with a box and some LED lights, which cost a pittance, and some tracing paper?

That doesn't look to bad, reviews are a bit hit and miss though, how do you find it?

Plus tripods, and different backings etc... would probably come to around £20 all in i reckon.

So, yes I could, but it's a lot easier to click a button and get one delivered

As with a lot of Amazon reviews the misses are coming from people who say things like "really easy to knock over and break lamps" (I'm a clutz) and there was a problem with the wrong plugs with the first batch. I would say it's well worth the cost, which is buttons in photography money - sure you won't be able to photograph a live angry bunny rabbit in it but it does the job for a stuffed monkey.

Cheers, good enough for me and like you say, it's cheap enough that if I don't get on with it, its no hardship.

Ordered me one of those toy £10 Holga HL-N plastic lenses from Hong Kong - won't auto focus but I can set the d300 so it will light meter with it. Could be fun to mess around with. god I hate the windows osk with a passion normally reserved for nazis.

Oops: http://www.pixiq.com/article/nikon-

Idiots.

I've got a film camera off my uncle. They never used it. It's a, wait for it...

Canon!

Yes. This troubles me. Anyway, it's a cheap plastic EOS 300. Looks horrible. Supposed to be very user friendly though. Apparently the kit lens (38-76mm) is crap. I'm going to give it a test drive this weekend. Oddly excited about it. Will it impress?

On a side note, that website has a got wonderful guides on making women take their clothes off.

Heh.
"An artist is only as good as the paint he paints with."
"A writer is only as good as the paper he writes on."

I'm, like, totally off to buy the most expensive piece of Nikon camera equipment so I can be the best photographer in the universe. And then when I'm not I'll sue their fucking arses off.

Nikon.

I wuv Nikon, so it pains me to see one of their own acting like an idiot. If it were the case he puts, then the camera would be the photographer, not the person behind it. Fools.

Although there is a world of difference between a medium/large format and a D3000, don't get me wrong. Essentially, better equipment allows you to work in more conditions, be more flexible, more accurate and that little bit sharper. But look at Bresson - blur, grain, softness, vignetting - and utter beauty.

I have this camera, the multi point focusing system is a pain in the arse as the controls are in the wrong place, but that's the only problem I have with it if you count the build qualities lightness as a plus, which I do. It has a strange backward film loading system - when you load it it spools all the film so when it's all shot you can take the film straight out.
It was the last consumer grade slr canon made (2002 iirc) so it has a phenomenal light meter and a lot of extras - it does bracketing for example. Jessops do a deal where you get a free roll of film when you develop. You can get boxes for bugger all from ebay as well, think I paid £4 for 10 rolls of iso 200 Kodak colour - also try using expired film as you can get some really funky effects (or not, it's a lottery)

Shove it in your bag, don't worry about breaking it as they are £40 with kit lens and enjoy the satisfying whir.

Very much

There is a anecdote I forget who said it, Bailey probably. He went to a dinner party at a chef's house taking his latest book along with him, "great photos" said the Chef "you must have a great camera". Photographer said nothing, after they had done eating the photographer turned to the chef and said "great meal, you must have a really great stove"

Oooh! Free film with every development, you say? Cool. Might hold off on the camera for now as I've just discovered that the batteries for it are hilariously expensive, and I'm saving up for holiday, but it shall be done.

lol. Lord knows where this rumour about the batteries started, I would take a punt on it being someone buying old cameras on the bay and spreading shite. fyi you can pick them up for a quid on the market and they last forever. Or you can get two pack brand name from amazon for £3.60 .

edit: here's the specs btw http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/came ... 3.html?p=2

I assume that's been autotranslated.

One would assume so, however it is the first reasonable confirmation that it exists - it's been kept so secret that people who know stuff about this sort of thing were worrying that this rumoured 80mm DX lens and the mirrorless cameras were the big super secret announcement.

That £10 holga for nikon lens I ordered form Hong Kong showed up and I got around to testing it, F/8 my arse, it's more like f/22. Setting it up on the D300 for metering is kind of like "well we think it's probably ok around this setting..maybe..". Can't see shit through the viewfinder with it on, manual focusing is a joke, but is it fun? You betcha it is. Would I go out with it where people might see me or a shot may be important? God no.


Holga for nikon test shot 1 by Learnin' Curve, on Flickr