The Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card.

Before I get to the nitty gritty, I have to brag about how cheap my eye-fi card was. I went to Circuit City on Valentine's Day '09 and they were all but wiped out. The store was so empty that a stranger came up to me and just gave me a gift card because she couldn't find anything for herself. I was kind enough to accept her offer and so I was +$24. The Eye-fi card was discounted 50% bringing it down to $50. So I ended up with an Eye-fi card at the cost of about $28 after tax!

Setup of the Eye-Fi is fairly simple. Upon inserting the card into the USB port using the adapter that comes with the package the card is automatically recognized and the installation process is completed quickly since the install files come preloaded on the card. Since Eye-fi is a wireless SD card, when I first saw that they included an adapter I thought it somewhat contradictory. Although funny at first, for the card to properly connect to wireless, one has to use the adapter to set it up first, so it's not really that strange. The user must have the card, a camera (which powers the card), and a wi-fi router in order for the card to work properly.



Once installed, my first impression of the Eye-Fi was one of restriction. The card works through an internet application called the Eye-Fi Manager which proves to be a sort of middleman. The reasons this is implemented are to promote the Hotspot Access Service (H.A.S.) at $15 a year, which allows the user access to more than 10,000 hotspots in the U.S., to allow the user to automatically upload photos to the a wide selection of photo-hosting sites and to keep things more secure.



The problem with uploading directly to photo-hosting sites is that not every photo I take is a masterpiece. It also eats away at a weekly limit quickly on Flickr. It is still an interesting feature that would be really nice with a subscription to the H.A.S. if you're on vacation and a lot of your friends and family want to see how the vacation is going with little lag time before the photos are posted.



The biggest reason I wanted this card is for time lapse photography. I want to transfer files directly to a laptop that's in range while shooting in remote locations. Since the card requires access to the internet in order for it to work, that feature isn't an immediately obvious option.

I have found a couple work-arounds to this major flaw of the card. Photojojo tells about how it could be possible to upload wirelessly to a laptop by connecting a wifi router to the laptop, whether there is internet or not. The other method as detailed by Dave Hansen would be to host a stand-alone server of which seems to prove difficult to do. I have yet to test either method but I think the latter would tailor to my needs. I will post an update when I test out these different methods.

Camera Sensor Cleaning.

There are a few sites that explain how to clean your camera's CCD. Copper Hill Images is the one I bought my equipment from, they also have tutorials on how to clean your camera's sensor. They also sent me a generic slinky with my order which they called a "Magic Spring." Cleaning a digital camera's sensor isn't really all too difficult so long as you have a steady hand and a little patience.

The websites that give you tutorials just get all worked up about how if you really screw up while cleaning your camera, you're going to damage your CCD. Replacing a CCD is very expensive, but from my experience you would really have to try to screw up your sensor to actually do it, especially if you watch or read any tutorials on how to do it at all.



The Arctic Butterfly sensor cleaning brush is ridiculously expensive. I had a trusted source recommend it, but after looking at it, it's really just a glorified brush with a motor used to shake off the dust. But I went with Sensor Sweep which is the brush you see in the tube above.

Something most important to remember with these brushes is that you should Never touch the bristles. Doing so greases it up with your filthy finger crisco and could mean transferring said grease on your sensor. Using either the Giotto Rocket-Air blower (seen below) or a pressurized can of air is supposed to statically charge the bristles of the brush and therefore make it easier to extract the dust from your sensor while clearing it of any dust on the bristles. This is the dry method of cleaning.

When using a pressurized source of air DO NOT use those small CO2 cartridges used in pneumatic powered guns. That type of cartridge usually has a little oil in it that is supposed to lubricate the inside of the guns that use them. Using one of those types of compressed air adapters that fit onto those cartridges for your camera could mean a gunked up sensor. Bad mojo. Using canned air the wrong way could blow frozen CO2 on your sensor. That's why I like the squeeze bulb shown above.





The wet method of cleaning uses the Pec Pads, the plastic and rubber wand, rubber bands and highly flammable methanol. The reason for the methanol is to be sure that it evaporates from the sensor. The reason for wet cleaning is to get any "welded dust" off the sensor. Basically that means that somehow moisture and dust came together on the sensor and sort of glued the dust to the sensor. Blowing into the sensor area with your mouth is a good way to make this happen, even if you manage not to spit, you're still blowing moisture from your lungs into the camera.

That's the basics. Just be careful. And don't say I didn't warn you, making mistakes could cost you a camera. Now go wash your hands!

Babies and Gentlemen!

WHY!? Why do some business owners insist on using babies and small children in their commercials? There's a local car dealership that runs commercials occasionally, and the woman who owns the dealership holds a baby in her arms as she promotes her Ford Trucks. The baby has no purpose in the commercial but she has it with her anyway. Then some business owners put the kids in front of the camera and make them do the commercial.

I've seen several billboards with babies on them as well. One in particular said "Is your heart a mess? Then go see my Dad." And it shows a family photo of baby who had been turned loose on something like cake and icecream or buffalo wings. You know, something really messy. The billboard was an advertisement for a cardiologist. I do have to give the cardiologist some credit though, at least they tied things together better than most.

It all boils down to sentimentality. When I studied photography in college my teacher said that you should let go of the sentimental value for your artistic photographs. It clouds your judgment toward them and makes it more difficult to edit which ones to show the public. I see the teacher's point though. You see, art and advertising are not places to inject sentiment. That's reserved for family.

There is a big difference between family photos and artistic portraits. When taking artistic portraits, it is all about the lighting, the composition, the contrast and colors. Family photos are meant to document loved ones. You can compose good family photos, but sometimes the photos that aren't the most perfectly composed are the ones that have the most sentimental value.

In the same regard, these commercials that business owners make with the children in them can have great sentimental value to them. But no one else cares. It's not an effective advertising campaign.

*Drools*

Casio EXILIM Pro EX-F1

Ohhh yes. If the video is good on this thing I may have to purchase it. I'd like a good video camera with still frame capabilities. Especially since it can record video at 1200 Frames Per Second! Although, I would like to have the option to hook up an external hard drive so that I can record it at full resolution with no shortage of space. So I might wait and see what the competition is like.

Ahh yes, the art.

I figured I should share what I enjoy in art. There's usually a cringe factor involved because I gravitate toward the macabre and uncomfortable. I'm not too ashamed to admit that I play Magic: The Gathering, and I've been fortunate enough to meet and get in touch with several artists. Here's some of them:

Ron Spears

RK Post

Terese Nielsen

In other art:

Margot Quan Knight (contains nudity)

Ron Mueck (contains nudity):



I'll post more later.