Zephyr Cave

Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens

2009-04-30T07:42:00.007+10:00

Canon MP-E 65mm is an amazing lens, and it opens the world you normally cannot observe.

However it is not for everyone, it only has manual focus, and meant to use only for Macro (unlike most of the macro lens). With 1-5X magnification, you can see the incredible details of the tiny part of the world.

See here for full review.

See here for more samples.

Canon Extender 1.4X , 2.0X information

2009-04-24T17:02:00.001+10:00

Really information and handy !
Must read before you want to get an extender!

Here

Real world performance for SD/CF on cameras

2009-04-08T05:50:00.004+10:00

Rob did a good job on benchmarking the real world performance for most of the major SD/CF cards.

CF/SD Performance Database

It is amazing, 5D mark II has 32MB+ RW IO throughput which means it can copy all the files from my first hard disk (60 MBs, NOT GBs) in less than 2 seconds.

I feel I am old now.

Wacom intuos 4 Tablet mini Review

2009-03-31T05:50:00.008+11:00

We purchased a Wacom intuos 4 at the time it was with a wrong price tag (thx. engadget :). )

I receivd the shippment the second day after the order (wow!). Plug it and try it, what an excellent tablet! The sensibility level is virtually feel like using a pen in the reality.

It comes with one pen and a mouse. Pen is excellent without a doubt, the mouse is also the most amazing part! No battery and good resolution + even with scroll!

The one we order is size "Large". The LED display is cool feature and it displays Chinese TOO, the command shortcut is customizable with the software comes with it. By the way, "Large" is really a good size for mapping on a 24' LCD (1900x1200)

I love to use it with Adobe's package, including lightroom, well feel like drawing on paper! Touching up photo can never be easier!

Down Sides:

The USB cable is annoying... and when you are holding and drawing on your tablet you can easily pull your laptop off from the table.
Sofwtare custimzation is over simplified :)
Still a bit heavy to me...

Hello World!

2009-03-31T04:59:00.002+11:00

IMG_7746
Originally uploaded by leozc

A cute girl taken in Kirkland park.

Canon 5D II
70mm-200mm IS

IMG_7582

2009-03-23T07:46:00.001+11:00

IMG_7582
Originally uploaded by leozc

I am strong, yes you will be !
Taken with 5D II 1600IS, Canon EF 50mm 1.4.

My workflow for Non-destructive RAW Photo Geotagging

2009-03-22T20:39:00.021+11:00

Recently I've purchased a Canon 5D II, this is a wonderful camera, however it misses one really important feature for me - GPS. GPS feature is important for implementing Geotagging which is the capability of embedding Geographical information into your photos, so people know where you took the photo. See wikipedia for more tails (link).

After spending tens of hour, and I decided to spend some more cash for my own experiments, here is my workflow which hopefully will be useful for you.

GOALS:

1. Geotagging my RAW in non-destructive way.

2. Provide a streamline workflow to update photos on my flickr share.

So, what do you need?

Hardware:

A GPS that can provide tracking logging. (.gpx format is the best adapted one)
Camera

Software

Geosetter
Photo editing tool that can understand xmp file. (I would suggest lightroom)

To give you better understanding, here are what I am using for my workflow:

GPS Logger : Garmin 60CSx $260
Software : Lightroom 2 and Geosetter and Lightroom 2 flickr plugin.
Camera: A Camera supported by Lightroom.

My RC version Workflow:

Sync GPS logger clock and your Camera. REALLY REALLY important. if you are lucky, your camera supports timezone, make you your camera timezone same as your GPS.
Enable my GPS logger and go out to take pictures. Remember, you should prepare enough battery for your GPS logger, in my case one pair of AA battery can last for 20 hours.
Go Back home, download the GPX file from the GPS logger.
Use lightroom import images from your card as usual, obviously they are RAW.
Open GeoSetter import the GPX file and update your RAWs. GeoSetter will generate a XMP file alone with each of your file. For details of GeoSetter, please google GeoSetter and see the tutorial in official site.
In your lightroom select all photos and left click, select Metadata->Read metadata from file. To verify, go to Library, scroll down to the property panel, you should see the GPS information! Click the arrow, lightroom will show your photo location on google map.
Then export the lightroom images.. use flickr plugin to upload the image to flickr.
Here you go.. you can show you friends where you took the pictures. You can see my example from here, click in for more details in EXIF.

Problems and notes:

You must sync the GPS and your camera clock well.. most GPS supports timezone.. but my 5D 2 doesn’t.
GeoSetter is FREE but sometime it freezes on large set of machines…
I LOVE Garmin 60CSx nice handheld GPS device, it is best reliable handheld GPS I know of.
I also save my GPX file which stores the track of my trip.. I believe one day, this file will be very very useful…

First Macro photo

2009-03-21T20:53:00.003+11:00

IMG_6114.jpg
Originally uploaded by leozc

This is my first Macro flower shot, nice highlight on the stamen.

Body: Canon 5D

Lens: Sigma 150mm f2.8 APO Macro DG EX HSM