28-300 Canon L with B+W 77mm CPL

Went to the country side this weekend and took some photos of the sunset.

Taken with 77mm B+W Circular Polarising Filter on the 28~300mm Canon L lens.

Finally found a way around the great firewall of China

After using Tor, SOCKS proxies and web proxies I have finally found the perfect solution that doesn't cost an arm or leg. Thanks to the guys at yourprivatevpn.com I now have my own VPN connection out of China. The best thing is that it is only ~8AUD a month which is about half to a third of the prices other VPN provides charge.

So check them out if you're in China and require unrestricted web access. Hopefully this will mean a return to more regular posting (doing a review on a few M42 lenses at the moment).

3GS camera review

This review of the 3GS is primarily looking at the new camera capabilities vs the previous generations.

On paper it is suppose to be a slightly better camera with a bump to 3.2 megapixels and now with auto focus.

The auto focus now brings the camera inline with other smartphone on the market on paper. However, the iPhone actually beats most smartphone on the market due to two simple things that most photographers will enjoy. Selectable AF using the touch screen and metering at the AF point. I'll go into why this is huge step forward below.

Selectable AF is probably a first on any camera phone, basically it allows you to tap anywhere on screen and the camera app will focus on that spot. This is a huge thing as it now allows you to select an object to focus one instead of having the AF guess which object you want to focus or in the case of older iphones no AF at all.
Here is a 3GS vs 3G/1st Gen photo
1st Gen
3GS
Notice how the 3GS version is nice and sharp and the 3G/1st Gen is rather muddy.

Here is another images of selectable AF.


The next big thing is obviously the improved metering. The camera app now meters at the AF point selected instead of full frame evaluative.

Here is a image of the 3GS focused on the keyboard. Notice the keyboard is bright but the screen is overblown just as it should be if I were to spot meter that area.

Here is another image with the screen in focus notice now the keyboard is underexposed.


Examples of when this will be useful is say capturing a sunset behind a person when you want a person's face to be well lit. On the 3G this person will be a dark shadow but on the 3GS they will be correctly exposed. The difference between a great photo and a throw away shot.
Some more sample shots

Testing of Email Publish

The great firewall of China has blocked access to blogger so I am
testing posting via emails. Hope it works.

Benro Travel Angel Review (C-169M8)

Recently I bought a travel angel tripod made my Benro. It is very similar to the Traveller tripods by Gitzo partly because it is a clone of the popular Gitzo model.


Here is a image of the Gitzo 1541T and an image of the Benro, as you can see they look very similar. The price difference is pretty big with the Benro (~250USD, ~300AUD and it includes a ball head) one coming in at less than half the price of the Gitzo (~580USD, ~1000AUD no ball head included).

Well lets look at the spec sheets

Gitzo
Load Capacity 17.6 lbs (8kg)
Maximum Height 52.8" (134cm)
Maximum Height w/o Column Extended 44.5" (113cm)
Minimum Height 6.9" (17.5cm) (Gitzo allows the removal of the center column to achieve this)
Folded Length 16.1" (41cm)
Weight 2.1 lbs (970g)

Benro
Load Capacity 17.6 lbs (8kg)
Maximum Height 58.3" (148cm)
Maximum Height w/o Column Extended 48.0" (122cm)
Minimum Height 14" (35cm)
Folded Length 14" (35cm)
Weight 2.2 lbs (997g)

Very similar specs between these 2 rivals with weight, folded length and load capacity being the most important factors that affected most people's buying preferences. The Gitzo can go lower but it is beat by the Benro when it comes to folded lenght and maxiumn height. So what does Gitzo offer that Benro doesn't? Well to start with Gitzo offers 5 year warranty (apparently it use to be lifetime) which is 2 years more than the Benro. Gitzo also has brand recognition that people identify with and well Benro is seen as a knock off brand. But what about the important factor of quality? Do you get what you pay for? Well truth be told Benro is made in China based on technology "copied" (adapted and improved upon) from others. The cost will definately be cheaper than a big brand name like Manfrotto or Gitzo. So in a way you do get what you paid for. For Benro you are paying for just a tripod based on existing technologies, with Gitzo or Manfrotto you are paying for the tripod, extensive marketing, some research and development and some more marketing.

Ok enough about that. So how good is the tripod and ball head(and how do I make this review interesting)? Well to start with the packaging is the similar to the major brand names and it even came with a tripod bag so you can save some money right there. The ball head is reasonable build quality but the tripod itself has excellent build quality. Everything locks into place pefectly with no rotation of the legs when fully extended. And the 8kg load capacity, well I don't have a 8kg load to test and I don't think most people who buy this will ever put 8kgs on. With a Canon 30D and a 28-300mm Canon L it only comes to about 3kg still less than half the supported load capacity it performed perfectly. The ball head had just enough tension that it was pretty easy to move but tight enough that the lens doesn't sag when fully extended. However, there are negative reviews with the ball heads made by Benro. So far no problems but I will be keeping an eye on the ball head since it is the only part of the package that may be weak or prone to breakage.

So hopefully I have convinced you that the Benro is a reasonably good buy. It doesn't come with the brand image of the Gitzo but then it doesn't come with the price either. Gitzo has built a very premium image over the years through innovation and consistent delivery of quality goods (according to some quality has declined). Hopefully Benro can do the same (but cheaper).

UPDATE: A few images of the tripod. Note the ball head is able to keep the camera steady even with the weight off center.

Going hiking :D

Will be going hiking this week. Taking my 28-300mm L with my 30D and a travel angel tripod for review. Check back here in a week or so for my full review of the Benro travel angel. It will also be a good chance to see how well the 28-300mm works as a travel lens.

It's a 3 day hike so I should get a good feel for how this thing performs on the field. Any questions you want answered post a comment.

Creating a more user friendly interface

When you hear the word UI what pops into your head? Some buttons or some pretty graphics? For me it is about people's preconceptions on how something should work and creating a way to best match that.

A simple example would be a button. Buttons in most people's minds are meant to be pressed, if you designed a image in the shape of a button you should expect it to be pressed. Same thing applies to hyperlinks, see what I did there? I made you believe that some underlined text with a hand cursor is a hyperlink because this is how we have been conditioned to think online.

Today you see many sites going against theses ingrained ideas to standout or be different however this cause pain to the users as they have to relearn how to use your site. When something is different it doesn't mean it's good just like when something is old it doesn't mean it's bad but then I guess the reverse is true also.

Recently I started using a new browser on Mac OS X called Stainless, it is an excellent piece of software with only one minor UI issue that makes it hard for first time users. Tabs in most applications(firefox, safari, IE to name a few) have a lighter colored active tab with shadowed/shaded ones indicating inactive tabs. However, this is reversed in Stainless which means for the first few hours you will be accidentally closing the wrong tabs as you unlearn your old habits. Expectations are always going to be the biggest hurdles to a changed user interface. As they say old habits die hard.