I made a complete switch to Mac in the last 18 months. It took a long time to make the switch because step by step one needs to update all your software from one system to the new. Will I do it again? Yes, I am confident that the Apple, Mac concept is good plus it is a great system for photographers. I also had to learn to work with new software to develop the site. With my Windows system I had to develop the themes myself and now with the Rapid Weaver software I use I can go and shop for great looking themes.

I have tried two or three themes from NCD Themes to date and the one you see now is called N-Spire. What I really like it is that it is 100% iPhone and iPad ready. As you can see from the image above the Photography is Fun website should display just beautiful on these units. I cannot wait to get my iPad to see what it will look like. I plan to get one in May. If you know of a new model that will be released please let me know, I really do not want to be caught having the older model. I will be happy to receive feedback guys....

Please go have a look at the "Expert Page" because I have placed a short new article over there.....

Siegfried

The PowerShot G6 was always the one in my mind that was the best. It has the original highly rated f2,0 lens, all the functions that made the PowerShot G series the camera of choice plus it has a 7MP sensor that really is a great pixel count for any hobby photographer. They are still selling at good prices and it is therefor important to wait until you find one that is like new before you buy one.

I have an older G3 that has been with me from my G7 days. I never sold it because its like new plus they really worth nothing today. The G6 has various improvements to the G3. One really get a glimpse of what new technologies did to a camera, two generations later. Is it much better than the G3. Difficult to say, the screen is significantly better and the body I think is more comfortable than the older G3. Interesting it is not much quicker in use compared to the older G3. The G3 images are better than those I get from the G6 I believe. The G6 has lots of difficulty to get the white balance right.

What does happen when using a classic like this is that one appreciate the current crop of cameras even more. Cameras like the G11/G12 or the PEN series is just in a totally different class. The difference is so big that it is not possible to go back at all I believe. That said, if you have a younger daughter or boy that you like to introduce to a really good camera then this is the right tool. With a G3/5/7 one can really train the younger generation plus they will be able to develop a wonderful hobby using top notch equipment that you and me can afford having them training on....

I placed a number of images I took with the G6 in the "True Style Images" page.

I bought the Nodal 3 Panorama head when my PowerShot G7 was my main camera. Panorama photography is something that fascinates me and its something I really enjoy doing. When I speak about panorama photography then its about really using the right equipment and software to get the best results. On this one I am a little old fashioned......

Setting up the panorama adapter for the first time after a long period I had to go search for a few answers. Doing that I came across a site that just invited me to spend way more time than what I intended to. I then decided to contact the owner of the site, John Houghton, and to ask him if he would be interested to write something for the Photography is fun website. John replied and said he would think about writing something. John also agreed to answer questions on our forum should any one of you like to give him feedback or if anyone has a question on taking panorama images.

John replied and included a short article:-

By 2004, I had acquired some experience with Photoshop, Panorama Tools and PTGui, so I dug out my old Stevenage panorama negatives, scanned them into my PC and stitched them with PTGui to get a reasonable print at long last:

I'm something of a perfectionist when it comes to stitching, so I try to use a tripod and panorama head (Nodal Ninja 5) to avoid parallax problems, especially indoors. However, some popular visitor attractions only permit the use of a handheld camera. The London Eye is one such place, and shooting a handheld panorama in the confined space of one of the pods, with people inside moving around, is extremely challenging. It took three or four days to stitch a set of images to my satisfaction, (with much Photoshopping), but I was quite pleased with the final image:

It's probably my most difficult stitch to date. Of course, it really needs to be viewed in a spherical viewer for the best effect, as at my web site:

John
http://www.johnpanos.com

One of our readers, Erik Larsson has been a long time supporter of the MyCanonG7 website, then each update we had until the Photography is Fun website as we have it now. Erik is an opera singer and has seen many countries during his career as an opera singer. With many years experience Erik developed a very sensitive eye for art, and the presentation thereof. Talking to Erik for the fist time during the last days, I met an interesting guy, relaxed and with a fine sense for detail. He has a passion for photography and I can picture him, with his camera in his hand, filming every interesting and unique scene in the village he lives.

While talking, Erik said to me it will be so nice to arrange a get together of Photography is Fun readers, somewhere in Europe. I agree with Erik, we have such an interesting and passionate reader's group on the site. I have no doubt that we will have a interesting time together. We did it in 2008 and at the time Pius, Herman and his met with my wife and I in a lovely village in the Swiss Alps. Often I think back to the good time we had together, wonder if Pius and Herman still read the site..... Herman and his wife were on a Kajak tour in Switzerland taking many exciting and interesting images from their kajak. Also being a musician Herman also has a good eye for the right scene or image. One can write a book about all the guys we met on the site. For those who know Richard and his series of special camera grips, it all started during the MyCanonG7 days, Richard contacted me asking if I would help him promote something he believes would be a great product. Later many manufacturers used similar designs..... We have Max (little dog), tongue always hanging out....how is Max doing Steve? Rob who has some awesome wildlife images he took during several visits to South Africa, I will be so happy to show more of his work. The story writer Hans wrote a number of interesting stories of his travels....now he is working on more E5 reports. There are many more and I am excited to see much more interesting work displayed and discussed on the Photography is Fun website.

Erik, like many others still have his G7. He says he will not sell it, the pictures he takes with the G7 is still better than many newer models he believes. Unfortunately I sold mine. I have considered getting one again and did start to monitor the 2nd hand prices. Erik mailed me a few of his recent images and I decided to place them on the front page, one can see his enthusiasm in the detail of each of his images, thanks Erik.

In terms of contributions to the site, I have been in contact with talented readers and I have more exciting news. I saw a series of really awesome panorama images and decided to contact the photographer. Friendly and open guy, he quickly wrote me a short story with a few of his images which I may place on the site. I will place it over the weekend. He also agreed to be available on our forum to answer any questions. I also met a nature photographer specializing in bird photography on the web. Personally, I grew up in an area that was known for its rich bird life and I have always paused a moment when I saw something linked to wildlife birding. Ned Bagno agreed to open his own "linked" blog on the Photography is Fun website. In addition we discussed to have a separate image page that will only be for bird images. Having said that I like to invite those who are interested to contribute something interesting to contact me and I am more than happy to seek ways to include active contributors to the site. I believe that bring diversity plus there is nothing better than looking at and enjoying the work of others.

Below is the two remaining images by Erik:- (9 - 18 WA Olympus lens)

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DxO Image Science is an optics company with its head offices in France. In the software department of this specialists company a dedicated team of optics and software specialists are working with endless energy collecting and testing camera bodies and lenses. All the data they capture using high precision measuring equipment are documented and presented on their website.

I have been fortunate to have had the chance talking to the guys over at DxO and it's refreshing meeting guys so enthusiastic and dedicated with what they do. Personally I think they are doing the industry a huge service. It's the only place I know, where data is measured and presented in a consistent way and where one can compare the tested specification from the one product to that of another.

Last year I decided to buy the excellent DxO Optics Pro RAW converter plus image editing software plus the DxO Filmpack 2 all developed by DxO, a decision I have not regretted. It takes a little effort getting use to and once mastered one can kick off working with it. That said personally I think it has the best workspace of all the different packages I tried to date, its logical and relatively easy to work with. It has a really interesting single image HDR function. This function works so well with RAW files that I often think its all I ever need. The only aspect withholding me from doing that, is it's not open to more artistic styles of HDR editing. On a later stage I will do a more in-depth "review" of DxO Optics Pro.

I placed two sets of images in the image pages of the site, in the "Free Style images" page you will see HDR images I did using the DxO high dynamic range (HDR) function. In the "True Style Image" page I placed a set of images I took of my son and his fiancé. I used DxO plus the DxO Filmpack 2 to edit these images. The "True Style Images" were taken with my E620 fitted with the 12 - 60 mm lens. The "Free Style Images" were taken with my E-P2 fitted with 14 - 150 mm lens.

The picture below was taken with my E620 and edited with DxO and Filmpack 2.



I hope you all have a great week, always take your camera with you and use every opportunity to capture that special moment!!

Siegfried

I was over at the other side when I saw an entry that was showing images taken with the new XZ-1 from Olympus. In our forum I recall we were exchanging views, saying how difficult it will be to replace or find a compact that will have what is needed to replace the PowerShot G7. I do think the new XZ from Olympus could be the one.

I can just picture the colorful and well balanced images from this unique compact when I think of my experience with other Olympus cameras. That said, this was not my original reason for posting this story.

I was looking at results from the XZ and it was interesting how the user selected different art filters to build the display for his pictures. You can see these images by clicking on the camera. Having said that, I will say something that could result in heavy debate. I believe the popularity of the Art Filter in the future has not been fully understood yet. People laugh at Olympus and the purist continue to selectively allow technology to help him produce his images, but they forget they are not the trend setters. You will notice I did not include female photographers into that purist group. I believe our lady friends are much more open to what technology can offer when it comes to expressing their artistic capability. I can clearly see how Olympus started an exciting and new trend that will hopefully change the monotone discussions on noise when cameras are reviewed in the distance future.

Siegfried

I looked at the EOS 600D image library that is available to the press and thought this is the one telling the story best. See the detail Canon added to the body below the EOS 600D Logo, it's the small things like adding the leather or rubber insert to the body that made me think this one is different to the rest of the competitors. Pitty about the lens Canon used in the image. That said I think if one decide to buy this camera then it's a good idea to add a top quality lens to the camera. For example I would like to use the equivalent of the Olympus 12 - 60 mm f2,8 - f4,0 lens with a camera like this. I am not aware of a L grade lens by Canon in the range 28 - 120 mm. They have one for full frame but for the reduced sized sensor in the 600D I think its not available.

I was passing by a camera shop in Zurich on my way to the train station. I stopped for a moment to look at older camera equipment in the Sale window when my eye caught six A2 sized images hanging inside the display area. I stepped a little closer to have a better look at the images. They were all images from a horse polo event and each were taken with a different camera plus lens combination. I spend nearly 20 minutes enjoying the excellent images, the detail in each of the images, the wonderful moment each photographer managed to capture and the absolute quality of the prints. Keep in mind that they all pictures of a sport event, fast moving subjects, split second moments, images that in my mind push any camera to the limit.

The bodies and the lenses were the "best" in each brand, Canon, Nikon and Olympus. With Olympus there were two images, one taken with the E30 and the other with the E3. I do not know the Canon and Nikon bodies that well, I recall it was the 1D and the D3S. I could not see any sign in the image style's that would indicate it was the same photographer that took these images, when walking away I decided these were taken by different photographers. What really made me stop and stand still was the quality of these prints. I started looking a little deeper and could not find any obvious reason that would make me prefer the one camera system over the other by just looking at the images. The images were all outstanding. I think most readers agree that we often too focussed on equipment, today I saw that being confirmed in full A2 size, I could not help walking away with a smile.....