Flip Mino pocket camcorder

Here's a picture of the Flip Mino, an all-digital pocket-sized camcorder.

My wife gave me a Flip Mino pocket camcorder for my BD. Tried to upload a 1 minute video; it was 640x480 AVI MPEG4 file in its original format. Waited all night and still not uploaded, a 30 MB file. Check the technical data on the device. That's cool.

I'll try again from a faster link.

http://fredjennyphotography.com/

Apple Blossom Time

http://fredjennyphotography.com

I've replaced my Nikkor 35-70 AF f/2.8 lens (need to sell on Ebay) with the faster focusing Nikkor 24-70 AF-S f/2.8 lens that also gives me wider range. Below are a couple of shots of backyard apple blossoms, lens wide open at f/2.8. Bokeh is very pleasing. The AF-S focuses in a heartbeat. The heft of the lens reminds me that I've paid for ED lens components in a professional build. So far so good.

http://fredjennyphotography.com

Took the grandchildren to the Rochester Museum & Science Center today and one of the things that they did there was dissect a squid! Even my three-year old granddaughter. Took some shots for the Museum and made them available on http://fredjennyphotography.com , password protected. 

I used the Nikon D300 with MB-D10 battery pack loaded with AAs. I like it -- plenty of power, not that I needed 8 frames per second for the dissection. The heft and feel of the D300 with the pack reminds me of my old F5. It's good to be able to power the D300 with batteries readily available world-wide.

As noted in some of the reviews of the MB-D10, the portrait shutter has a hair-trigger -- agreed, but not a problem.

Barcelona Lighthouse

This is the oldest gas-powered lighthouse in the United States. It is located in Westfield, NY, just off of I-90. Shot raw + Basic Jpeg -- this shot is the jpeg. The keeper's cottage is quaint , behind the lighthouse. http://fredjennyphotography.com/

Slide Show in Photoshop Elements 7

Slide Show for Photoshop Elements for versions 6 and 7 is great, giving convenient, intuitive control over one's pictures in order to creat a "Ken Burns" type video. One is able to pan and zoom on still images designating the start and stop locations on each image. There are plenty of transitions (I prefer the classic fade) and other special effects. Much easier to use than Microsoft's Photo Story 3 -- and more powerful.

Here's an example: a group sponsored by Tumpline Ministries (http://tumpline.org/) hiked the famous "W" in Torres Del Paine National Park, Patagonia, Chile. Here are a few images from the leg from Paine Grande to Lago Grey Refugio.

Images: http://fredjennyphotography.com/

Testing a Photo Host

It's taken me a while; I've checked quite a few hosts, quite a few labs; I've scrolled through quite a few Webpages of description and fine print. BUT, I think that I'm zeroing in on a host site that will meet my objectives: reasonably priced host, professional looking design, full delivery of services without my intervention, suitable interface for me, suitable interface for clients. That would be zenfolio.com. I'm doing a two week trial at my site. Check it out. http://fredjennyphotography.zenfolio.com.

They partner with Mpix labs -- large and well-know. I'm still checking their work. It took me two print jobs to learn that they require sRGB color space for printing and not the more widely used AdobeRGB. Need to do one more small print trial, but this time using the cart on zenfolio.

Slow Sync -- in a Flash!

What flash features does your camera have? Red-eye reduction? Rear curtain sync? Slow sync? A pop-up or external flash typically has no difficulty illuminating an intended subject in the foreground. However, background (& image context) may not be if the flash is under powered for the job. Thus we consider slow sync -- which uses the flash but with a longer shutter speed that exposes the background.

Here's a shot using my D300 and SB600 inside the local grain store. The foreground is lit, but the backgroud is dark. (f/4, 1/60 sec.)

In the following picture, slow synch is used. The exposure time is longer: f/4 again, but 1/5 second. This worked OK in spite of the fact that I had the camera in "Commander Mode" instead of TTL.