Hermanland

Considering my DAM workflow, I can see the folder holding the media files can be under following state:

Open, Full, Computed, Reviewing, Prepared, Archived, Re-working, Trash

More explanation will be posted later.

Although some backup tools claim data verification is performed to ensure data is copied correctly, most tools do not disclose how the data verification is performed. How do the tools ensure the file content copied to the backup media is exactly the same as the original one? Some tools state they use binary comparison or checksum or temporary folder but I cannot think of any way to verify the claim that data verification is really performed. Does anyone know a way to do so? To release my concern, I compute checksum to the source folder before performing a backup and then run the same checksum againist the destination folder after the backup.

During the past 2 months, I have been using Olympus C-5050 daily and also in several social events during the weekend. I were amazed to find there are some useful features in C-5050 which I dont even find in all the cameras I have used so far. Firstly, not only I can set the exposure compensation or flash mode with a single press of button, I can also change the iso sensitivity, meter mode, focus mode and even the flash output in the same quick simple way. The use of the jog dial to select the value adds another security measure to avoid changing any setting by mistake. All these can be done without even turning on the LCD and the control panel on top of the body gives clear indication. I did not realize how useful they were until I tried to practice many of the new techniques I read in the flash photography book recently. Furthermore, the option to configure the camera to startup at the last used focal length of the zoom lens is another useful feature not found in my other cameras. I also appreciate the fast lens at both wide end and tele end (F1.8 – F2.6) so that I dont need to worry the lens getting slow when I zoom in. The lens at tele end is even faster than most lens at wide end.  Foto quality wise…well, there are already many reviews and user comments about it.  It is a typical Olympus color and rendition whether you like it or not.  I like it of course:-)

Some portable DC today claims offering fast lens but in fact the lens is fast only at the wide end of the zoom. There was a period of time in Olympus Camedia series that offered fast lens at both wide end and tele end. They are my preference also because the wide end starts from 35mm and not 28mm so that there is less distortion for portrait. After trying C2020, C3040 and C5050, I found they each have special personality by their own. The C2020 has a very cute classic style body that most people will realize it is a DC from last century and the foto it produces will surprise most people. At this early days, the maker is generous enough to include a PC socket for use with most old cheap auto flash light. The C5050 was housed in a very high quality Magneisum die cast body and equiped with many advanced useful features even by today standard e.g. raw format, real time histogram. The C5050 was built as a 2nd portable DC for professional in mind. The C3040 is some where in between but I found the foto it produced can compare favourably with C5050. All three DC take just 4 AA batteries and I found them very enery efficient. C2020 and C3040 take the already obsoleted Smart Media card while C5050 also accepts the more modern CF card or xD card.

富士經典夢幻組Fujifilm made its name in high performance portable digital camera in its F series.  Fuji did it by leveraging the result of its continous R&D effort in sensor technologies and the careful balance in various factors in camera design.  I have no doubt the famous moonlight camera F31FD is qualified to be admit to my dream team.  The comparatively less well known F700 and F810 have recently joined my dream team.  Unlike F31FD, they are both capable of saving in raw format and supported by Adobe dng converter.  F700 is fitted with Super CCD SR to optimize the dynamic range while F810 provides 16:9 format.  A common characteristic of all these team members is that they all are not mega pixel blaster but still their humble 6 mega pixels sensors are producing pleasent image which can be seen from my online album http://hermanland.com/zp

Should I use raw format or jpg format when taking photograph? I had tried to explain to the beginners as most books do and still could not manage to get them understood with correct expectation. Recently, I think of a better analogy for easy explanation.  Just like raw food I got from the market, raw food is often not as tasty as the cooked food or raw format does not look as eye candy as pre-cooked jpg.  Well, some people prefer their dish cooked by P.  Here P may stand for chef from Pennisula hotel or the raw file processor from Pentax:-)  Oh, so Pennisula taste…oh, so Pentax color. If I cook the food myself, it may not taste the same as cooked by P or it may be even worse depending on my cooking skill or post processing skill to the raw file.  However, with the raw food on hand, I have the flexible to cook to whatever taste I want.

Although Fujifilm claims F200EXR as intelligent machine fitted with EXR sensor that auto switching between high resolution low noise mode aka the classic HR sensor and wide dynamic range DR mode aka the classic SR sensor, the end resulting image produced in its auto EXR mode is less than satisfactory except a better DR. In the Kim’s Fuji F70EXR – How to shoot it, Kim summaries his experience which also applies to F200EXR. 1) Use P mode for general purpose shooting, set M size to 5M, set auto iso 1600 or lower for people, set DR400 2) use EXR DR mode for super harsh sunlight, M size is fixed by the machine, iso is fixed at 200 by the machine, set DR800 3) Use M mode for special effect e.g. concerts or long exposure, set M size, set iso, set aperture wide open, set shutter speed.  For all cases, in film mode, use Provia.  Set -1 ev when shooting lights at night. Set -1/3 ev for general outdoor and -2/3 ev in strong sunlight.

I were suspecting there were some image files in the folder which were not known to the IDimager database yet.  I performed a “Search image files on hard drive” with “Only return uncataloged files” box checked.  However, I found the search result also included the “Uncataloged” labeled image files making the result less useful for my purpose.  A “Uncataloged” image file may still be known to the IDimager database.  For example, I imported (not downloaded) the image files to IDimager.  These image files were surely known to the database because they were referenced in the “Import session” label under the “Auto Catalog” label.  Some of these images were automatically labelled as “Uncataloged” during the import session because there were no keyword embedded in these image files yet.  The search function will be more useful if there is another check box to “Only return files not known to database”.

Like all other Olympus DSLR users, I am interested in knowing how the smaller sensor affects the image quality, equipment usability and price comparing to other popular format e.g. APS-C.  Rather than hearing from Olympus, I prefer to hear more from third parties and end users.  Four Thirds Sensor Size and Aspect Ratio is a good article explaining how the 4:3 aspect ratio affects the image cropping in print and screen output, the smaller size sensor affects the Depth of Field and size of lens and viewfinder.  Not until recently, I had overlooked these factors and just emphased on the impact of the smaller sensor to noise and resolution. From the same website, there is also an interesting article about Depth of Field and your digital camera. When I use an old manual 50mm F1.4 prime lens on Olympus E-420 DSLR, I used to think I had a super 100mm portrait lens with super F1.4 DOF. From the article, I found it is not as super as I thought. In fact, I only got a DOF equivalent to 100mm F2.8 i.e. F1.4 x 2 in full frame and not 100mm F1.4. Well, 100mm F2.8 is still super.

I used to update the EXIF to record the old manual lens used to take the photo. I found I had named the same lens in a different way which is confusing. To help standardizing the naming, I find the need to maintain the name list of my lens collection. Following is the starting point:

Accura Diamatic 135mm F2.8 sn 255136E (M42)
Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm F2.8 (Exakta)
Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm F2.8 sn 4167584 (M42)
Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm F2.8 sn 10821332 (M42)
Fuji Fujinon 55mm F1.8 sn 504882 (M42)
Fuji Fujinon EBC 50mm F1.4 sn 152687 (M42)
Ricoh Rikenon 50mm F1.7 sn 064529 (M42)
Ricoh Rikenon 55mm F1.4 sn 300886 (M42)
Ricoh XR Rikenon 50mm F1.4 sn119235 (PK)
Ricoh XR Rikenon 50mm F2.0 sn147970 (PK)
Schneider Xenon 50mm F1.9 (M42)
Schneider Xenar 135mm F3.5 (M42)
Mamiya Sekor 55mm F1.4 sn 12622 (M42)
Meyer Primotar E 50mm F3.5 sn 1886013 (Exakta)
Meyer Trioplan 100mm F2.8 sn 1693275 (Exakta)
Meyer Telemegor 180mm F5.5 sn 2635559 (M42)
Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 (4/3)*
Olympus Zuiko Digital 25mm F2.8 sn 212552458 (4/3)*
Panagor PMC Auto 24mm F2.5 sn 811280 (M42)
Pentacon Electric Multi Coated 50mm F1.8 (M42)
Pentacon Auto Multi Coated 29mm F2.8 (M42)
Pentax SMC Takumar 55mm F1.8 sn 7091893 (M42)
Pentax Super Takumar 55mm F2.0 sn 4385425 (M42)
Pentax Super Takumar 105mm F2.8 sn 3713851 (M42)
Pentax Super Multi Coated Takumar 28mm F3.5 sn 6026565 (M42)
Pentax Super Multi Coated Takumar 35mm F3.5 sn 6267555 (M42)
Pentax Super Multi Coated Takumar 135mm F3.5 sn 7881939 (M42)
Pentax smc PENTAX-M 40mm F2.8 (PK)
Pentax smc PENTAX-M 50mm F1.4 sn 2172411 (PK)
Pentax smc PENTAX-M 50mm F1.7 sn 3486469 (PK)
Pentax smc PENTAX-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL sn 5729169 (PK)*
Pentax Takumar 55mm F2.0 sn 278890 (M42)
Yashica Auto Yashinon DS-M 50mm F1.4 (M42)
YashicaML 50mm F1.4 sn A1059628 (CY)
Yashica ML 24mm F2.8 sn A1522979 (CY)
Yashica ML 50mm F2.0 sn A90126668 (CY)
Vivitar Auto VMC 50mm F1.7 sn 97502071 (M42)
Voigtlander Color Skopar  X 50mm F2.8 sn 5766359 (Bessamatics)

* : These are auto focus lens for DSLR.  Others are manual lenses originally for film SLR.