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.

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.

I’ve had my new Canon EOS 1D Mark IV camera for a little over a week now and I thought I would share a little bit about my experience with it so far. This is my first pro level 1D series camera and it really is a different beast than the Canon EOS 40D that I’ve been using for the last couple of years. I have definitely had a steep learning curve while figuring out the differences between the 1D and the 40D. Regardless, I have some definite thoughts already and I wanted to share them here. I’d love to hear some feedback from other people who have already made the jump or are planning to do so soon. Please hit me in the comments below!

The Things I Really Like

1. High ISO Performance: Simply put, this camera shots in the dark. I’m not a major pixel peeper and I haven’t done any measurements using a microscope or by zooming in to 10000%, but it’s very clear just by looking at the images shot at ISO 5000 that they are cleaner than images at 1000 on my 40D. I have no problem just letting the Auto ISO pick whatever ISO it needs.
2. Dynamic Range: Not only is the ISO performance better, but this camera also finds detail in the shadows unlike any camera I’ve ever used before. Some of the images right out of the camera have some of that surreal tonemapped look that HDR images often display. In fact some of my images see into dark areas that I could barely see with my eyes. It’s really quite incredible.
3. Auto ISO: I typically shoot in aperture priority and with my 40D I often had to manually choose a higher ISO than that camera would pick in auto mode just to maintain an acceptable shutter speed. The Mark IV knows what ISO it needs to pick to prevent motion blur and it has such a huge range of acceptable ISO’s that it has a huge amount of leeway to do so. This is absolutely my favorite feature of the new camera!
4. 7 Stop Auto Exposure Brackets: I do a lot of exposure blending and I love to have 5 to 7 images to choose from. I don’t always use them all, but it’s nice to have them. The 40D will shoot a maximum of 3 images per bracket and as a result I always had to shoot 2 brackets to get the shots I wanted. This often caused a slight shift in the camera position while I was changing the exposure setting, and resulting images were out of register. I love that I can now just tell the camera to shoot 7 images and then use the self timer to let it rip!
5. Better Autofocus: The autofocus system on this camera is so different than the 40D that it’s still a little bit alien to me. I haven’t quite figured out how to use best it in every situation, but two things are really great. The first is the AF speed. Every one of my lenses focuses faster and more accurately on this camera than they did on my 40D. I know that my 40D needs an overhaul and I will be sending it to Canon soon. But even when it was brand new it didn’t perform anywhere near as well as this one. The other thing is that I can now shoot with lenses (or combination’s of lenses and teleconverters) having a maximum aperture of only f/8. Previously when I used a TC on my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS lens (which has an effective maximum aperture of f/8) on the 40D I had to manually focus the lens. The 1D Mark IV has no problem focusing with this combination, even in the relatively low light after the sun sets or before it rises. It is fast and accurate and that’s a good thing! (Yes, I realize that this combination is not recommended, but sometimes that extra length is the most important factor…)
6. 2 Card Slots: I love that every one of my images can be immediately backed up onto a second card at the time of capture. I’m a backup fanatic and this is a huge improvement over having only 1 card slot. Unfortunately video can only be saved on one card, so it doesn’t get backed up in camera.
7. Video: Speaking of video… I’ve never been much of a videographer, but I have been doing more and more of it lately and I’m increasingly excited that this camera has a 1080p HD video mode. I will definitely be using it, but I also have a lot to learn before I can do it effectively.

The Things I Don’t Like

1. No Custom Exposure Modes: My 40D has three programmable modes on the mode dial (C1, C2, and C3) that could be programmed with shooting settings for instantly access in different shooting settings. I used these all the time and the fact that the 1D cameras don’t have them surprised me a lot. I knew that there was no mode dial, but I still expected to be able to choose the custom modes using the same mode button and menu used to choose the other exposure modes. I think the rationale for not having them is that most pros will carry 2 (or more) cameras and each camera will be set up for a specific type of shooting. But it would be so easy to include them for those of us that don’t want to carry 2 big cameras all the time that I just can’t understand why Canon would leave them out.
2. 2 Types of Card Slots: I love that there are two slots, but I hate that I now need 2 different types of memory cards. I’ve been shooting solely on CompactFlash cards for a long time and now I also need to carry SDHC cards. Fortunately SDHC cards are relatively cheap and I was able to pick up a few at very reasonable prices over the holiday season.
3. No Dedicated Video Start Button: The live view mode can be used to control the still shooting settings, or for shooting video, but not both. If you want to switch between them then you must first go into the menu to tell the camera if live view should be used for stills or for video. This is really annoying for anyone that uses the camera for both video and for landscape shooting, and there should be a way to switch between the modes without having to dive into the menus.

The Things that are Just Different (not better, not worse)

• Size: the 1D is much bigger and heavier than the 40D. I don’t mind this, but it does take some getting used to.
• Integral Battery Grip: this is a big part of the reason why it is bigger and heavier. Some people will love this as it gives a lot more battery power and also provides an extra set of shooting controls for when the camera is in the portrait orientation. I’ve never really had a burning need for either of these features, so it’s not really a big advantage for me. I will definitely use the extra controls for shooting portrait, but I’ve never had a problem with battery life before.
• No Pop-Up Flash: I almost never used the flash on my 40D, so not having one on the Mark IV won’t hurt me. I’m more than a little dissapointed that the 1D didn’t get the built in wireless flash controller that the Canon EOS 7D recently came out with, but even that’s not that big a loss. I normally use radio frequency remote triggers for my flashes anyway.

Well that’s everything I have to say for now. These are just my initial impressions and I’m sure that these lists will grow over the coming weeks and months as I learn more about my camera. Like I said above, I’d love to hear about your thoughts and experiences, so please leave a comment with anything you’ve got!

I’ve recently rolled out some official sounding policies for this website, most recently my Disclosure Policy. Although I am not based in the USA, most of my readers are, and this policy is designed to comply with the requirements set out in the recent FTC ruling with regards to bloggers that get paid to write about stuff. Although my policy is not an exact copy of John Chow’s disclosure policy, I will certainly admit that it is essentially a rip-off of some of his thoughts on this matter.

In summary:

• Almost all of my pages and articles include advertisements that I get paid for.
• Almost all of my links are encoded with affiliate marketing codes so that I get paid if you click on them.
• I will happily take products for free in order to review them. Having said that everything I’ve reviewed on my site so far have been items that I purchased myself for my own use. That will eventually change.
• Just because I’m getting paid for advertisements, links, or if I get a free product for review purposes doesn’t mean that my reviews will be positive or slanted in favor of that product or advertiser. Having said that, I generally only use products or services that I like, and most of my reviews will be about those products or services. Therefore they are probably going to be positive reviews more often than not.

All of this applies equally to my posts on Facebook and Twitter, and on many other social media sites and services.

The full text of my disclosure policy can be found on my Policies page. Note that this policy is closely linked to our Advertising Policy, which can also be found on the Policies page.

That is all.

I have long been a fan of the website The-Digital-Picture.com as a fantastic source for in useful review of Canon cameras, lenses, and accessories. The reviews presented are the perfect length to provide an great overview of the equipment, without requiring hours of reading to get the idea. Each review also provides a brief comparison to closely related equipment with a discussion of why the buyer might want to choose one over the other.

For example, Canon has three wide-angle zoom lenses that, on the surface, have very similar specifications (EF 16-35mm f/2.8L, EF 17-40mm f/4L, EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS, EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS); however, even though their focal length ranges are similar, these lenses are all extremely different have have very different target markets. The reviews for each of these lenses includes discussion about some (but not necessarily all) of the related lenses. This information is gold and it becomes very easy to narrow in on a couple of the lenses as the likely preferred options.

The site has recently been updated with a brand new Lens Specifications and Measurements comparison tool that allows you to directly compare lenses to easily see the differences in height, weight, diameter, and many other physical properties. In the past it has been very difficult to get this kind of information at all, never mind finding it in one place. Finding it usually required wading through multiple review sites, online retailers, and the Canon website.

If you are a Canon shooter and you haven’t been to The-Digital-Picture.com, you should go there right now!