Digital info for serious
shooters: specializing in Nikon & Canon
DigitalPro Shooter Volume 2, Issue 14, October 16th, 2003
Welcome to DPS 2-14: Killer Card and Killer Color! Sometimes
you just have a great week. This week I've just returned from an awesome Fall
Color photo shoot in Michigan to find an almost equally exciting new PC Card
waiting for me. I'll tell you more about the shoot, but first this little gem of
a PC Card.
A Killer Card:
Delkin eFilm PRO CompactFlash Adapter
The most frustrating part of shooting digital for me has been the very slow
process of physically transferring images using my PC Card CompactFlash adapter.
Despite having nice, fast Lexar cards, the adapter plugged into my Toshiba
Satellite wouldn't transfer a D1X image in less than 3-4 seconds.
Sure I could travel with my Firewire reader, but I already have enough gear
and chargers, so that wasn't really a good option. And I know some other
computers have faster PC Card busses, but they still didn't seem all that quick.
Now Delkin has solved that problem for me in a big way. They have produced a
much higher speed true 32-bit adapter for CompactFlash cards. Their adapter will
transfer a D1X image from a 24x Lexar card in under a second. D1H images are of
course even faster.
The adapter is $59 from Delkin (www.delkin.com),
instead of the usual $7-$8 for a cheapie version, but the extra money is
completely worth it to me. Thanks to Roy Feldman, who told me about the card on
the Fall Color shoot over the weekend, I knew to order one right away and it was
waiting for me when I got home. I'm looking forward to saving downloading time
and battery on the road, since with quicker downloads I won't need to run my
laptop for as long.
I've never tried Delkin CompactFlash cards, but the performance of this nifty
little adapter has gotten me interested. If their cards can do as much to
improve my download performance as the adapter has, my images would be flying
onto the computer.
In any case, if you're using a PC card adapter I'd highly recommend giving
this product a try. I don't know if there are limits to which computers it can
'accelerate', so if you come up with stories of successes or failures, please
let me know or post them on the forums (www.nikondigital.org).
If you're using a USB1 adapter but have a PC card slot, this adapter might
save you some time and give you one less thing to carry. And if you have a
Firewire adapter I doubt you'll see better performance from the eFilm Pro
Adapter, but it may be more convenient for you.
Killer Color
We had a great combination of brilliant Fall color, balmy weather, and
energetic participants at our Fall Color Seminar & Day Shoot last weekend on the
Upper Peninsula in Michigan. I've posted some images on our photo site (www.cardinalphoto.com),
but there was one lesson that really stood out for all of us. That was the use
of graduated neutral density filters.
Most of us are familiar with using ND filters for horizon shots, and some of
the participants had even experimented with them for various other situations,
but the combination of sky and waterfall we were shooting in Michigan provided
plenty of new ways to use not just one, but often two ND filters at a time.
Look for an article soon on nikondigital.org on some of the ways we used ND
filters. Of course, for those so inclined, you can do the same thing in
Photoshop using multiple exposures on a tripod and then blending them later. It
takes a little more time and effort, but you get complete control and the
freedom to do it again and again. We'll provide some tips on how to do that as
well.
Upcoming Events:
Seminars, Talks and Photo Safaris
Bay Area Bird Photographers (Palo Alto, December 3rd, 2003)
Sequoia Audubon Society (San Mateo, January 8th, 2004)
NEW: Bird Photography class.
Palo Alto Baylands, February 28th & 29th, 2004
(registration info forthcoming, or email
safaris@cardinalphoto.com)
For registration and more info,
visit:
http://www.birdsasart.com/laphotoweekend.htm
To get the discount, mention you are a reader of David Cardinal's
DigitalPro Shooter newsletter.
Artie has located the Seminar in Torrance and the Workshop at
Bolsa Chica so those visiting the area can make a weekend of it by attending the
LA Zoo day on Sunday, where Artie will also be presenting.
DigitalPro Tip:
You can create your own Submission "pre-sets" simply by using the Save As...
button to save groups of settings--including your own copyright watermark,
preferred sharpening, etc. I keep several for different uses.
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