Adam photographing Landon as he is taking a picture to show dust.

The five different technologies it takes for Adam to do this are: Eye-Fi SDHC card, Verizon USB727 EVDO modem, Cradlepoint CTR-350 Mobile Router, BixNet 5V Li-Ion battery, and a SmugMug/Flickr account. Larry Gonzales and Jeremiah Njoroge from Eye-Fi were on hand to answer questions and explain how the Eye-Fi technology works. From what Adam was showing us, it seems to be a very cool concept especially when the need of getting images on the web as fast as possible is very, very important. Using his Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II shooting wit small JPEG (4 MP equivalent files of about ~1 MB) he was able to burst off a number of shots and have them appear quite quickly in his SmugMug account. Even at the medium setting, the images took no more than a few seconds to appear. Quite impressive. One thing to note is that the Eye-Fi does not support RAW, only JPEGs will be uploaded. The Eye-Fi SDHC is a very impressive invention. I had, at one time, considered getting one for my 1D bodies and after Adam’s demonstration, I’m tempted again.

Wedding photography was mentioned as a good candidate, but I disagree as you probably don’t want your raw, unedited images available; not the best way to make a good impression. I think the better candidate for this technology would be photojournalist who don’t alter their images at all. This certainly offers a whole new level of live blogging: live photobloging. To read more in-depth on this and Adam’s thoughts, check out his blog posting [link to post]. Check out Adam’s live photoblogging session at COBA on his SmugMug [link]. The only complaint I have about this whole setup is that it is expensive. The equipment alone cost about $200 and the Verizon wi-fi plan is $60 a month, so the cost can add up quickly.

Sensor Cleaning

J.C. Dill and Landon were discussing their favorite method of sensor cleaning: Dust-Aid Sensor Cleaner. They swear that these have produced the best results in their continual endevaor for a clean sensor. This is the product they use exclusively for their Canon EOS 1D Mark III, Canon EOS 1D Mark IIn, Canon EOS 5D, and Canon EOS 20Da. The neat thing about the Dust-Aid Sensor cleaner is that it does not use any cleaning solution so thus won’t leave smear marks. I do have to say I am a bit scared of doing my own sensor cleaning, but after their demonstration and seeing the results, I’m sold. The Dust-Aid also seems to be the least scariest of all the other cleaning methods such as the Artic Butterfly and Visible Dust System. It is also the cheapest at ~$27.

Seem really good, I may end up purchasing one of the Dust-Aid to try since both my 1D bodies have collected some noticeable dust and it is starting to take a lot more time to clean out in Adobe Lightroom.

April K. Tse and Shootsac

Canon EOS 40D with Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM in Shootsac.

April brought her Shootsac to show me. An interesting “hip-pack” concept to store/carry your camera and lens without it looking noticeably like a camera/lens bag. The Shootsac is created by wedding photographer extraordinaire Jessica Claire. You can wear it one of two ways: as a purse or around your hip.

It’s designed to carry 3-6 lenses and is quite portable and made of neoprene. It seems you can only carry 3 pro lenses at most or risk breaking the seams or your back from the weight.

I can’t say I’m terribly impressed or would want to get one, but that’s just me. You can also purchase different front flaps so you can change it as often as your mood or outfits. The Shootsac isn’t cheap at $179 and neither are the front flaps costing anywhere from $30-$60 depending on the design.

COBA Pictures

You can see all the pictures from COBA at my SmugMug [link].

Now to be honest with you all, I don’t consider myself a professional photographer, but rather it just a hobby of mine. I have read many of the reviews and many of the comparisons between other cameras and I have to say my 3 weeks of experience with this camera certainly lines well with the reviews. I have no real way to compare the 5D2 with any of the more interesting camera such as the Canon 50D, 1D3, or the Nikon D3. There are plenty of other reviews available that covers this angle of the 5D2 story. I have not seen much real life reviews of the camera, so I figure I take this opportunity to write a review based on real life conditions. To put things in the proper context, I am upgrading from the Canon EOS Rebel XT. I had considered upgrading to the 40D, but I felt that it was not enough bang for me to upgrade. The Canon 5D Mark II offered the bang I was looking to achieve and I truly believe it was worth every penny.

I view myself as a generalist and do not focus on one area of photography. I have one camera (new 5D2) and a bunch of L lenses for the camera. If there is a picture to take, I take it and so far, I found the Canon 5D Mark II to be able to handle just about any thing. The camera is not just for weddings!

In this review, I will share some photo I have taken so far as well as cover my favorite features of the camera. Most of my sample photos will be JPEG right from the camera with the NR set to standard. In the past, I would shoot RAW and I would post process my RAW with Bibble Pro 4.10. But at this time, Bibble does not support the 5D2 as of yet and the DPP is frankly too slow for me. I have recently considered changing to Photoshop, but I have decided that I rather buy a new L lense then pay for PhotoShop. I have a license for Bibble and it a great product and will just have to wait until Bibble can support the 5D2. Certainly, I have RAW versions of all my photos and plan on experimenting with Cropping and evaluating its NR capabilities with the 5D2 once Bibble Pro 5 comes out with 5D2 support. Lucky for me, the 5D2 is producing awesome JPEG pictures right out of the camera which is allowing me to wait.

First up is Indoor Basketball shoots. I have hundreds of them so far. This one was taken in bad lighting conditions in an old gym. I used my Canon 24-70 F2.8 Lens with an Exposure Time of 1/250Sec, F-Stop 2.8, and ISO 3200. This photo came right out of the camera with no adjustments. The white balance is great and the colors are perfect. It has some noise, but certainly this can easily be clean up.

Here is another shot in a gym where the lighting conditions where much better. I used my Canon 24-70 F2.8 Lens again with an Exposure Time of 1/320Sec, F-Stop 3.2, and ISO 1600. This photo came right out of the camera with no adjustments. The white balance is great and the colors are perfect. Interesting in this gym, I have the camera set to Tv Priority set at 1/320 and auto ISO enabled. What I like about the 5D2 is that the F-stop will float between 3.2 and 2.8 (not sure why) but more importantly, the ISO will adjust down and low as possible (which I like a lot). For this lighting condition, the ISO seems to float between 1000 and 2500. The lighting changes slightly depending on where I am sitting in the gym and how far I have zoomed in or out the lens.

This next shot I had the camera set to full automatic. I don’t always use full automatic, but I wanted to see what the 5D2 would do in this condition. The 5D2 use ISO 100, F-stop of 8, and Exposure of 1/640 Sec. I used my Canon 70-200 F4 IS lenses for this shoot.

DIGIC 4 imaging processor

Comparing the 5D2 with my old Canon EOS Rebel XT (350D), one of the first things you will notice is the imaging processor capabilities in the 5D2. It seemed that just about every picture I had taken with the Rebel XT, needed some adjustments to the photo and why I always shot RAW. I had to adjust the White Balance, noise for ISO 800 or 1600, and at times, even the color was not quite right. However with the new DIGIC 4 image processor, I am seeing the colors and the white balance more under control and even more exciting, it has a built in Noise Reduction capability. Unscientifically of course, if you compare the JPEG coming right out of the camera, you notice a major difference in over all quality.

Being a Full Frame camera, right off the bat, you will notice a 1 F-Stop advantage over a crop camera such as the Rebel XT in respect to controlling the Exposure Time. In addition, using DPP and reviewing RAW files and comparing old basketball photo I had at 1600 and comparing them with the new basketball photo I have with the 5D2, I can notice the difference right away. The 350D at 1600 was not always usable. It depended a lot on the lighting conditions. With the 5D2, I am finding that noise level to be very usable up through 6400. To be clear, I do not have formal comparisons (kinda hard to do that with low lighting indoor action sports), but certainly I have been able to clean up a few 6400 test shots I have taken that simply look great. Many times I struggled when using 1600 on the 350D.

The other problem I had with the 350D, is I would set Av priority to a F-Stop of 2.8 and set the ISO to 1600. Many times, I would get blurry pictures because at times, the Exposure Time would be under 1/160 Sec. I did experiment with the under exposing with result of even more noise to deal with. Hard to get a half way decent indoor basketball shoot with bad gym lighting conditions and getting undesirable Exposure Times. Trust me, been there, done that. The 5D2 now gives me the ability to take great shoots even when the lighting conditions are bad.

Wow, for me, one of the biggest things I noticed with the 5D2 is the battery life between charges. When I had my 350D, it had to always have a 2^nd battery with me especially when I used AI SERVO. With the 5D2 and using AI SERVO, I am taking hundreds of shots and coming home with my battery still having 70% or 80% battery power remaining. I could not be any happier here. I almost bought a 2^nd battery for the 5D2, but the sales guy was very honest and said that I may not need it based on why I had a second one for the 350D. He was correct. I appreciate the honesty I got from them at www.cameracompany.com.

In addition, the 5D2 offers the ability to give you Battery status information such as the percentage remaining and the number of shots remaining. The 350D did not have this ability. In respect to basketball photos I have been taking, I found the Auto Focus with AI SERVO enable to be really fast as compare to the 350D I am use too. Many times with the 350D, I would loose a shot because the Auto Focus was simply not ready and fast enough. For the 5D2, I have yet to miss a picture I wanted; always focused and ready to go.

For a guy like me who is over 40 now, the screen on the 350D was just becoming a problem for me. The 5D2 3” LCD Screen is not only much bigger, but it also very sharp. The two things you need when you’re over 40. So if your over 40, this screen is a must have. Similar to the 350D, it does offer the ability to zoom in and out when reviewing photos, but what different is that the photo remains sharp as you zoom in. Also, it has a very nice button that they call their multi-controller which allows mouse like ability to move your picture up and down or left to right, very easily.

Menu System

Bottom line, it is very easy and simple! Just the way I like it. In addition, I was able to customize my very own screen. The only negative I will say is when I took the Ski photo above, I discovered that the customize Screen is not available if you are in full auto mode. For me, I don’t use full Auto Mode very often, but I do think this is a ridiculous restriction that Canon should consider removing. In respect to the 350D, the menu system is a major improvement with the 5D2.

Continues Shooting

The 5D2 has the ability to take 3.9 Shots per second which is slightly faster then the 350D. The 50D can perform at 6.3 shots per second with the 40D slightly faster. Given that some of my pictures are indoor sports, I debated for some time if I should go with the 50D or the 5D2. At the end, I went with the 5D2 because of the much better sensor that can handle low lighting conditions much better then the 50D. Putting the sensor to the side, simply having the 1 stop advantage being a full frame camera means you can basically double your Exposure time which is important for indoor sports pictures. I have never tried using a 50D or a 40D, but so far, I have been able to get great actions shots without the 6.3 advantage.

Video

So far, it appears to be working very well. I felt it was important to mention it, but at this point in time, I have not spent a lot of time using it in some real world scene.

Black Dots

Given all of the buzz about black dots, I thought it was important to mention the situation. The 5D2 can produce black dots that can be seen when shooting in very low lighting and you are taking a picture of street lights or Christmas lights. Based on what I read, they can be seen when you crop the photo by 100%. If you look closely, you will see a black dot in the middle of the light. Good news is Canon has acknowledged the problem and plans a firmware upgrade at some point to address the problem. My personal view is I have never seen the issue with my camera but then again, I never had an opportunity to take pictures on the conditions required to see this problem.

Final Thoughts

I am sure you can tell that I am quite pleased with this camera. 5D2 is an awesome camera. I feel the 5D2 has a solid control of its noise performance up to ISO 6400. I now have the ability to take much improved indoor sport pictures. I am sure the Nikon D3 or 700 or the Canon 1D3 can take solid indoor sport pictures as well, but given the price point and where I am as a hobbyist today, the 5D2 is a create camera and great option for me.

Build Quality

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM at f/1.2. Click image to see it in different sizes.

There is no doubt that the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L (purchase from B&H Photo Video here) is built solid like a tank; and weighs nearly as much at 36.2 oz. (1025 grams). If you used any Canon L lenses before, then the 85mm is nothing new, but if this is your first L lens, be in for a real treat. Everything is solidly built with no rattles. The focus ring moves a little too easily because unlike the other L lenses, the 85mm f/1.2 uses a electronic focus manual meaning that the camera must be turned on to be manually focused. I find that it rotates a bit too easily and doesn’t have the same solid feedback feel of the other full-time manual focus lenses. I’ve also noticed something interesting about the electronic focus manual on the 85mm. If you have the default AF/AE Lock setting set for your shutter button, you have to half depress the shutter button to manual focus. But if you switch the setting to AE Lock, AF (or AF-ON), you can use manual focus at anytime the camera is on. It’s a bit odd how that works out, but it does.

While the 85mm is a very well built lens, you do have to be careful as to not damage any of the expensive components such as the front and rear elements. Unlike any of the other lenses, the rear element is very exposed and incorrect mounting can result in costly repair bills. It’s also worth noting that during focusing, the front element extends a tiny bit from the barrel, so care has to be placed when removing and mounting the lens. I would highly recommend that you do not store the lens on the front element when the front element is extended or on the rear element without a rear lens cap locked securely on.

Because of such a large maximum aperture, the minimum aperture of the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens is f/16.

Usage

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM at f/1.8. Click image to see it in different sizes.

In my personal opinion, I don’t find the 85mm f/1.2L as useful on a 1.6x crop body lens, I’m sure many would disagree, but having 136mm (85mm x 1.6) is a little too telephoto when I’m looking for 85mm. If you have a 1.6x crop body, the 50mm might be a bit more useful as it will be 80mm (50mm x 1.6). Another problem I’ve ran into a number of times is the minimum focusing distance of 37.4 inches (3.1 feet), there are times where I find I have to step back further just to acquire focus on my Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II. Fortunately you can use both the Canon 12mm and 25mm extension tubes.

On a full frame sensor, the 85mm is a wonderful portrait lens and with a maximum aperture of 1.2, subject isolation is very easily attained, but getting what you want in focus is a whole other thing. At the maximum aperture of 1.2, you are working with very razor thin depth-of-field (DOF) [sample picture]. Having 45 auto focus points to select from really helps with large aperture lenses such as the 85mm as the focus-and-recompose technique may lead to some unexpected results due to the DOF.

It’s certainly not a small lens. On a Canon EOS 1D/1Ds body, it’s weight is well balanced, but on a smaller body such as Canon EOS 50D or Canon EOS Rebel XSi, it is very front heavy. As a comparison, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L non-IS USM lens weighs 42.2 oz, or 1210 grams, which is only 6 ounces heavier given the versatility! The 70-200mm IS version weighs 51.9 oz.

One of the biggest things I love about this lens is its large aperture. Shooting at f/1.2 lets me handhold shots at lower ISO settings that I would normally be able to with slower lenses such as f/2.8. Shooting at lower ISO settings mean lower noise especially when shooting in challenging low lighting conditions (see this COBA meeting album which was all shot with the 85mm f/1.2, link). You can also see another example of what you can do with the 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens by checking out this link. This lens excels for wedding photography, low light shooting, and portraits. Because of it’s relatively slow auto focus, I certainly wouldn’t use it for sports shooting.

The colors and contrast of the images taken by lens are very, very nice. I find I have to do very little post processing.

Conclusion

The Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM is a very specialize lens and may not see daily usage given it’s weight, size, minimum focusing distance, somewhat awkward focal length on a 1.6x crop body and price, it never-

© plastereddragon/Found on Flickr.com

the-less is a very valuable lens to have in any collection. The images produced with this lens are nothing less than stunning and the ability to use it in very challenging lighting conditions is nothing short of amazing.

It’s younger brother, the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM (purchase from B&H Photo Video here), is a more affordable alternative (approximately 1/5th of the price of the f/1.2L version) with image quality that is very similar to the f/1.2L version and is a great alternative for those on a budget. One thing I’ve noticed, but haven’t had much opportunity to test this more thoroughly, but  I’ve noticed that with the 85mm f/1.2L set to f/1.8 and the 85mm f/1.8 at f/1.8, the f/1.2L version had a faster shutter speed despite being at the same aperture. I’ve read in a few places that this is due to the fact that the f/1.2L has larger glass allowing for more light transmission. This same phenomenon has been reported with the Canon EF 200mm f/1.8L USM and Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM lenses (I’ll post the links once I find it).

The 85mm f/1.2L II USM is very sharp, even at f/1.2 but it is more prone to chromatic aberrations, which is not entirely unexpected given the large aperture. At f/1.8, it’s super sharp and doesn’t get any sharper even when stepped down.

So is this lens worth the $1,800 price tag? I definitely think so. The 85mm f/1.8 USM comes very close and does auto focus much faster, so why the f/1.2L version? The f/1.2L is the sharpest of the two, is faster, and the colors & contrast are better. This lens is certainly on my list of next lenses to acquire for good reason.

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM Sample Images

You can see other images taken with the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM at these links:

• 2008-12-10 – Camera Owners of the Bay Area meeting
• 2008-12-06 – Bay Area Car Meet (Images taken with 85mm are scattered throughout)
• 2008-11-28 – Random Photography

• 24.5 megapixel in a 35.9 x 24 mm CMOS sensor
• 16-bit EXPEED system
• 5.0 frames-per-second in it’s full size mode, and 7 frames-per-second in a cropped 10 megapixel mode (I guess they want to encourage people who need the extra 2 frames-per-second to purchase the D3)
• ISO 50-6400, which I’m guessing means that, like the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III (highest ISO is 3200), this dSLR is not intended for low light situations as with the D3 is. There doesn’t seem to be any mention of any higher ISO range such as 12,800 or 25,600.
• Same 3 inch 922,000 LCD
• Live View
• 12ms startup time with a 41ms shutter lag
• Dual Compact Flash slots capable of 35MB/second write times

For pictures of the Nikon Pro magazine and how the D3x stacks up against the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, click in to read more.

Comparison of Nikon D3x and Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III

As always, this comparison is only a comparison based on specifications. Colors, performance, ergonomics, and other features are subjective and can’t quite be measured without bias.

Conclusion

Nikon definitely doesn’t disappoint with their high resolution D3x. The D3 was aimed at photojournalist, wedding photographers and sports photographer, much like the D2h and D2hs was. The D3x is aimed at those who need higher resolution such as studio and landscape photographers. This is not to say the D3x can’t be used for photojournalism, wedding photography, and/or sports photography. I’m pretty sure a number of wedding photographers will pick up a D3x to complement their D3.

Canon has certainly fell a bit further behind with their 1Ds Mark III compared to the (yet-to-be-released) D3x. Things such as the outdated, crappy 3.0 LCD screen with a laughable 230,000 pixel and maximum ISO of 3200. The D3x has the same ISO levels (performance will be another thing to be seen) as the Canon EOS 1D Mark III, a 10 megapixel dSLR. I certainly like the D3/D3x’s dual Compact Flash slots, but I can see the advantages of having a Compact Flash slot and a SD/SDHC slot as a) if you are shooting in situations where your memory card can be confiscated, at least with the SD/SDHC, it’s not as easily noticed; b) SD/SDHC has attained (and in some cases surpassed) Compact Flash speeds; and c) more laptops are more likely to have a SD/SDHC built in reader than a built-in Compact Flash reader.

I’ve always liked how Nikon has offered a “cropped” mode, first introduced in the D2x, and has remained in the D3, and now also seen in the D3x. By allowing the photographer to switch to a lower megapixel selection, they can attain extra frames-per-second.

One thing of interest is that the HD video feature first introduced in the D90 does not appear in the new D3x. Does Nikon not feel it’s ready for the pros? So us Canon shooters will now continue to wait and see what is in store with the Canon EOS 1D/1Ds Mark IV. Kudos Nikon, you certainly are listening to your users.

© Engadget.com

© Engadget.com

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Let’s answer the big question on everyone’s mind:

This is the best camera Canon has every built. Jim Rose

I got the opportunity to play with the 5D Mark II and photograph with it. Long story short: it is very much worth the wait. It may seem arrogant and perhaps even premature to say, but I do believe the new 5D Mark II will reestablish Canon as the market leader. This couldn’t have come at a better time after the focus issues with the 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III has caused a lot of headache and bad blood between Canon and Canon loyalists, but the 5D Mark II brings some light to what has been a very dark tunnel of despair.

On paper, the 5D Mark II sounds very impressive: 21.1 MP, UDMA support, 1080p HD video, ISO up to 25,600, a 3 inch LCD with 922,000 pixel resolution for about the same price as the 5D Mark I when it was first introduced. In my hands, it is very well constructed and feels quite solid, but not quite the same build quality and durability as the 1D/1Ds series bodies as others have mentioned.

Jim Rose was discussing how low noise is at ISO 6400 and when the staff photographers at San Francisco Chronicle (they have two on order BTW) saw the images at ISO 6400, their jaws dropped. Jim was discussing how even George Lepp (of the famous Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging) was very impressed and said that ISO 6400 on the 5D Mark II is very usable. That’s a very nice seal of approval. At ISO 12,800 things start getting a bit noisy, but not terribly bad. By ISO 25,600, things are quite noticeable noisy, but if this is the only way to get a shot, it is still usable. According to Jim (not Canon’s official stance), ISO 3200 on the 5D Mark II is comparable to ISO 800 on the 5D. I was allowed to fire off some shots on my memory card with the 5D Mark II and the images are very nice with very low noise. Unfortunately, despite being a production camera and not a prototype, I am not able to publicly post the pictures at the time (they are posted but password protected but I’ll remove the password after the 5D Mark II starts shipping).

The 1080p HD video feature of the 5D Mark II is very, very nice. You can record up to 12 minutes of video and take stills while recording. How that works is while you are recording, you just press the shutter button as you would if you were taking a picture and it will pause the recording, take the picture (or pictures) and then resume recording. You lose half a second of video for each photo taken during recording. So if you are recording a video and three minutes into recording, you snap a picture, half a second later the recording will resume resulting in a single file, and not split video files with the thirty second skip where the photograph was taken. Very cool! Also Canon recommends that you prefocus before you start recording although you can auto focus while recording (by pressing the AF-On button), it is very slow because it uses the Live View contrast detection auto focus. Another thing to note is that you can only record videos in Aperture priority mode. You select the aperture, the camera will select a shutter speed and auto set the ISO to maintain a constant consistent shutter speed. You can also dial exposure two stops up or down. You also need a UDMA card to take full advantage of the HD video recording.

The back LCD is stunning and breath taking. At 3.0 inches with 922,000 pixel resolution, checking for sharpness has become so much easier. The images displayed on the LCD are very stunning. Also the viewfinder has been redesigned and is definitely brighter than my Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II viewfinder.

Jim has been with Canon for more than eight years, since the start of megapixels (i.e. Canon D30) and this is the first camera that he is really excited about and believes that it is “going to re-energize Canon”. Jim also speculated on the 1D/1Ds line as it was asked about it’s future considering that Nikon has moved in full frame, which I won’t post as it is all speculation. Jim also mentioned the 5D Mark II should sell very, very well considering how many people want the ultimate in megapixels but couldn’t afford or justify the cost of the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III. This is certainly a good thing because I think the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, while is a spectacular SLR, it is not worth $8,000. It’s worth $5,000 and that is where they are selling used for now (and in some cases even less). Once the new Nikon D3x is released and priced around $5,000, I’m sure Canon will no longer be able to justify pricing the 1Ds at $8,000.

So is it worth it? Yes. Am I getting one? No. I’m waiting for the the new Canon EOS 1Ds Mark IV. I love the ruggedness, durability, and auto focus. Adam Tow is thinking of downgrading from his Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II and Canon EOS 1D Mark II to two Canon EOS 5D Mark II because of the size and the HD video options.

Other little tidbits: there are seventy eight Explorers of Light and Printmasters, of which Vincent LaForet, Joe Buissink and George Lepp are members. Jim Rose does in fact read DPReview.com.

I also forgot to mention:

Adobe CS3 DOES NOT support Canon EOS 5D Mark II RAW files. It also appears that there will NOT be an update for CS3 to fix this and you have to either buy CS4 or convert the Canon RAW to DNG.

The shutter on the 5D Mark II is very, very quiet. I was quite shocked, it sounded almost 25% quieter than my 1Ds Mark II.

Political Photography Part II: Jared Polis

Adam and his wife, Rae, went to Colorado to photograph the last week of his high school friend’s campaign for Congressional seat in Colorado District 2 before the elections. Jared Polis is an internet entrepreneur having started Blue Mountain, ProFlowers, and Fuser which he sold all off during the height of the dot com boom making millions. Jared is also founder of the New America Charter Schools. Jared has been campaigning for a year and half for this two year term. Adam spent a week following Jared around as he campaigned at Park-N-Rides, Honk and Waves, Meetings, Halloween and Farmer’s Market, Canvassing, and finally Election Day.

Adam packed his Canon EOS 1D Mark II and Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II with the following other items: Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8L USM, Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM, Canon 1.4x Extender, Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, Canon Speedlite 550EX, and a Gary Fong Lightsphere. He found he was primarily using the 28-70mm on his 1Ds Mark II and 135mm on his 1D Mark II.

Adam’s daily workflow:

1. Shoot in the morning
2. Select, rate, process in Apple Aperture 2 and upload photos to SmugMug
3. Recharge batteries
4. Shoot in the evening
5. Repeat steps 2 and 3

Reason Adam does the post processing in the afternoon rather than the evening is he figured he wouldn’t do it in the evening.

Jared Polis won the Congressional District 2 seat with 60% of the vote. To see Adam’s pictures, you can visit his SmugMug here.

Gallery

[smugmug url="http://buiphotography.com/hack/feed.mg?Type=gallery&Data=6849704_DBBBA&format=rss200" imagecount="100" start="1" num="100" thumbsize="Ti" link="lightbox" captions="true" sort="true" window="false" smugmug="true" size="M"]

Introduction

For those who don’t know what SlideShowPro is, it is a Flash based software that allows you to easily create Flash slideshows for your website. It’s a great piece of software for only $29.99. It’s quite configurable and relatively easy to setup and use. SlideShowPro Director is a web based application that is used in conjunction with SlideShowPro for an additional $29.99 per domain. It’s not required, but I highly recommend SlideShowPro Director as it will save you enormous time in creating slideshows with SlideShowPro.

Requirements

• WordPress/WordPress MU installed and functioning
• SlideShowPro
• SlideShowPro Director (optional)
• Kimili Flash Embed for WordPress plugin installed

Directions

1. Download Kimili Flash Embed for WordPress plugin, upload to WP-Contents/Plugins folder and activate
2. Download the SlideShowPro Flash add-in module, setup, and configure it. Downoad, setup, and configure SlideShowPro Director if you opted to purchase it.
3. Create a slideshow following the Quick Start Guide to create a slideshow. If you are using SlideShowPro Director, use these directions here. Make sure you remember where you published your SWF and XML files to.
4. Login to your WordPress dashboard and create a new Post or Page
5. Click on the Media Upload button (the star button next to “Add media:”) and upload both the SWF and XML file. Most likely, you will have to change the paths inside the XML file to match the location of where the uploaded file is being stored based on your permalink structure. If you are using SlideShowPro Director, you will only need to upload the SWF file.
6. Copy the link that appears in the Link URL field (e.g. http://bui4ever.com/files/2008/11/ar-carnival-cruise-d02.swf)
7. Use this code where you want the slideshow to appear: [ kml_flashembed movie="/path/to/your/movie.swf" height="300" width="300" /] with NO space between “[” and “kml_flashembed” and be sure to replace /path/to/your/movie.swf with the URL that you copied in Step 6. Change the height and width to match the slideshow. The default dimensions for a slideshow created in SlideShowPro is 548 width x 373 height.
8. Click Save or Publish and you should see the slideshow appear. If not, check that you followed all the steps exactly. If no images appear, most likely the paths in the XML file are wrong.

Conclusion

These directions are based off the information that I found here. For the most part, you could create a physical directory on your webserver if you want more control, but I didn’t like that solution as it involves a two step process: using a FTP program to upload the file and then embedding it into WordPress. My method is more elegant in that you use WordPress’ file management system to store the Flash files and then plug the URL into the Kimili Flash Plugin. While this may not seem that important in a single WordPress install, if you use WordPress MU, you are quite aware that any physical directories created are accessible by all domains on that WordPress MU install (e.g. http://bui4ever.com/downloads/ is the same as http://buiphotography.com/downloads/) which can lead to file issue nightmares. By using the WordPress media uploading method, you allow others to upload their SlideShowPro slideshows without granting them dangerous FTP access and allow them to keep their content separate and organized. For the most part, this method works quickly and easily. Your mileage may vary, as I use SlideShowPro Director to house all my photos and thus negate the need (and fustration) of having to manually create an XML file. Also keep in mind that you need to grant access to all website that will be accessing SlideShowPro Director by using the crossdomain.xml file tip (see Step 4).

Silver

• Welcome Kit
• CPS phone hot line
• 20% discount on repairs

Gold

• Access to loan equipment for two weeks
• 30% discount on repairs
• 2 free check & clean services
• 3 day expedited turn around on repairs
• $100 annual fee

Platinum

• Priority access to loan equipment for two weeks
• 60% discount on repairs
• 2 day expedited turn around on repairs with equipment loan if repairs are longer than 2 days
• $500 annual fee

Dammit, I just recently sent in my CPS packet with a pre-approval signature from one of Canon’s Field Managers. I wonder how this will affect my membership packet as CPS is not accepting any new members. My Canon EOS 5D is in desperate need of repairs and I don’t want to just send it to Canon Irvine Repair Center and have to wait 4-5 weeks for it to be repaired.

In other good news, CPS and Canon Professional Network (the worldwide CPS) are now merging. This means if you are a traveling professional photographer and have CPS membership and your camera/lens breaks, you won’t have as much issues getting service from CPN as it has been in the past.

Well if I have join again, then I’ll most likely go with the Gold membership to start out with. One of the benefits is that we’ll be able to join via the website (they actually have a website now…LOL!) now, which should be quicker turn around time. It’s a pain to have to get all the documents together and send it out to Lake Success, New York.

• SanDisk Extreme IV UDMA 4GB CompactFlash – $97.50 with $45.00 mail-in rebate
• SanDisk Extreme IV UDMA 8GB CompactFlash – $187.50 with $75.00 mail-in rebate
• SanDisk Extreme III 16GB CompactFlash – $164.95 with $90.00 mail-in rebate

The 16GB is looking like a great deal, if you are comfortable putting that many eggs in one basket, as the saying goes. I use two 8GB Extreme III CompactFlash cards and I also have a 2GB Extreme IV.