The newest eBook release from David Duchemin (called Vision is Better) is simply stellar. This is a compilation of 50 articles from his website that have been rewritten and attached to some beautiful images that illustrate the point. If you’ve never read David’s writing before, now is the time to start. If you have read his stuff before, this is a fantastic opportunity to go back and read (or reread) some of the best and most poignant articles that he has presented in the past.

David’s motto “Gear is Good, Vision is Better” is very easy to understand and to agree with, but it’s much harder to implement. For me it’s one of those things that I have to pound into my brain over and over again. Going through these articles reminded me how brilliant and how important this thought is, and I urge you to read this book.

The really great news is that the book is very inexpensive at only $5. It gets better though because there is a 20% discount available if you buy the new book between now and midnight on May 4th. If you use the promotional code VISION4 when you checkout then you can have “Vision is Better” for only $4, OR use the code VISION20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more books from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST MAY 4, 2010.

For a long time I have had a theory that Nikon photographers are more likely to be Mac OS and Apple Aperture users while Canon shooters tend to use MS Windows and Adobe Lightroom.

Please tell us what you are most likely to use as the primary set of tools in your photography workflow:

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Polls Archive

I previously posted a review of the i-GotU GT-200 GPS Data Logger and that article is by far the most popular post I have on this site. I’ve never really been happy with this device and I had planned to sell it, but I never actually got around to it. I recently started using it again because I went on a couple of photography outings for which I really wanted to be able to record my track and to geotag my photos. Since then I have been using it regularly again and so I thought I should post an updated review. Here are a few comments that I have after a few more weeks of use:

The things that I dislike the most about this gadget haven’t changed:

• The indication lights on it are hard to see and difficult to interpret.
• The on/off button is not a tactile switch, and it is easily pressed unintentionally.
• There is no battery indicator so it’s really a guess as to its charge status.
• The device can’t be mounted directly as a drive on the computer.
• It uses a proprietary USB cable instead of a standard cable.

Honestly, most of the things I like about it haven’t changed either:

• It is very small and lightweight.
• It is accurate enough for my needs.
• The battery life is good.

There has been one major improvement that I have to mention; there is an updated version of the @trip PC Suite management software for the device (that is used both to setup the device options and also to download the data) that actually installs correctly. When I first got the gadget, installation of the included version of the software repeatedly failed, miserably, and I had to jump through hoops to get it to work. The new version installed easily. Note that if you have the 64-bit version of Windows 7 you need to download a beta version of the @trip PC software. I can’t see how it’s any different from the full version, and it also installed perfectly on my laptop.

So that’s about it. I’m going to continue to use the device for now, but I am looking at other devices that will mount directly as a drive in Windows. This would speed up my workflow enough that I would be more likely to use it all the time. I’ve read some pretty good reviews of the Amod AGL3080 and that will likely be the next GPS Datalogger that I pick up.

It occurred to me that in recent posts I’ve talked about what kind of rechargeable batteries to use, how to charge them, and how to store them, but I haven’t actually talked very much about WHY you should use them. I’ll do that now!

This might be obvious to some of you, but for others it’s a pretty hard sell when they see price tags of $10-20 for a set of 4 AA or AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries (I prefer Sanyo Eneloop batteries) when you can buy a huge box of alkaline batteries for less (here’s a box of 48 AA’s for only 6).

Here are 3 reasons why you should use rechargeable batteries in all your electronic gadgets and camera equipment, especially in your Speedlite flashes:

1. Better for the Environment: Millions and millions of batteries get disposed of every year and most of them go into landfills. They all contain heavy metals and they really aren’t very good for the environment. Even when recycled they take lots of additional energy to reprocess, which is simply wasteful when their are excellent rechargeable alternatives available.
2. Cheaper in the Long Run: although alkaline batteries are relatively cheap to purchase, you can reuse your rechargeable batteries hundreds of times and they quickly pay for themselves. For the full time pro or the advanced amateur this is probably a no-brainer. But it’s still true even for a beginning photographer. If you use a Speedlight Flash that takes 4 AA batteries, I’m willing to bet that you have to replace your alkaline batteries at least once a month, and maybe even more often if you use it a lot (even spectators at a wedding often can’t make it through an entire event on one set of batteries). So even if you only replace your batteries 12 times per year, a set of 4 Eneloops for $13 is already cheaper than that big box of alkalines for $16, and you can save even more by buying the rechargeables in bulk packs. If you are using 2 or 3 flashes plus a few other electronic gadgets that use AA batteries these savings multiply (and you can share your spare batteries amongst all the devices!).
3. Better Performance: I find that NiMH batteries recycle my flashes faster and last longer than alkaline batteries. This is counter-intuitive since rechargeables are typically only 1.2v vs. 1.5v for alkalines, but they are different technology and it really is true. You may find that alkaline batteries work better than NiMH’s when they are both fresh, but that alkalines drop off very quickly. I find that NiMH’s continue to perform very well until they simply stop working; alkalines work well initially but then performance quickly drops off to the point where it might take 10 seconds to recycle a flash (compared to 3-4 initially). This was honestly the main reason that I switched in the first place, but in retrospect the other reasons are just as important.

Note – if you haven’t read it yet, you really owe it to yourself to read my earlier article about Better Rechargeable Batteries before you actually buy any NiMH batteries. They are not all created equally…

Most photographers have several sets of rechargeable batteries; typically at least two sets for each of their portable flashes (or other gadgets or cameras that use AA or AAA batteries). This becomes a management issue because they bang around inside the bottom of the camera bag and it’s difficult to know which batteries are charged and which ones are dead.

I have an easy two-part solution:

1. Organize Your Batteries in Sets: These clear plastic cases for AA batteries are perfect for keeping rechargeable batteries organized into sets. At less than $2 each they are very inexpensive, and since most electronic devices use batteries in sets of 2 or 4, they hold just the right number of cells. They are also available for AAA batteries and in larger sizes in case you want to hold more than 4 batteries.
2. Carefully Arrange the Batteries in the Case: Most devices that use AA or AAA batteries must be loaded so that the orientation of the positive and negative terminals for adjacent cells alternate. If you always load your cases with freshly charged batteries so that all 4 cells are oriented in the same direction, and load cases with dead batteries alternating, you can tell with a quick glance whether each case holds fresh or dead batteries.