Just uploading some photos I took of the Pasha Bulker yesterday.

This is my response to Frank Arrigo and Brian H Masden:

via LOLCat Builder

If you don’t know what the LOLCat craze is all about, Wikipedia has the answers (as usual).

Are you scared yet?

Oh - and the original image is mine - took it in Austria, actually.

Since Windows Live Writer, Beta 2 seems to be chucking a hissy fit about having so many photos on one page, here is part 2.

See Part 1 for more photos, and information.

More than a downpour
Very heavy rains filling up the rail lines, and making it impossible for trains to run. 

Leaky Roof at Civic Train Station. Friday afternoon.
Even being under cover doesn’t mean you’ll stay dry.

Fine Sunny Morning
The garden had very little damage, surprisingly enough.   Saturday Morning (Early)

Robyn & Margaret’s new gum trees.
The base of the bigger tree extended across the driveway and another 5 meters or so.

Someone has a muddy pool.
This house down was only finished about 3-4 months ago.

Interesting location for a tree.
I don’t think this was part of the design specs.  This was, however, one of the worst cases along the point that I saw. Most places were missed.

Scattered Palm Fronds

Fire Department making some downed power lines safe

High-flying Arborist
This guy gets lifted up to the top of the tree by crane, and then proceeds to hack said tree apart with his chainsaw.

The heavy-towing truck come to get the crane out of a muddy driveway gets stuck in the same muddy driveway. 

The crane got out, and now helps the tow-truck out.

The crane and tow-truck together dug someone a new swimming pool - although, I’m not too sure he’s that pleased it’s in his driveway.

Energy Australia guy fixing something.
Hey, you missed our place - come back!

Friday really wasn’t a good day. I missed my bus by about 2 minutes, the taxi I called took 20 minutes to get here, and when I finally got to the train station - they were running 30+ minutes behind schedule.  All up, I got to work about 45 minutes late.

A few hours later, I learned that a ship - the Pasha Bulker - had grounded off Nobbies Beach - about 1KM from work. Apparently it was/is visible from the top floor of our building. That caused a bit of excitement, but apart from the strong winds, and heavy rain - no one was terribly concerned.

At lunch, I ventured out in a brief lessening in the wind and rain to get something to eat. There was bits of tree branches, and… stuff lying on the ground. I (jokingly) described it as a war-zone in a Twitter message

By the time 4:30pm rolled around, I’d had enough, and thought I should probably catch the earlier train home, just incase there were more delays. Normally, I catch a train at about 5:20, which meets the last bus out to Coal Point. Missing that, especially on a Friday night, means a 40 minute or more wait for a Taxi to come from a surrounding area.

(Caution, Long Blog Post - also a few pics too)

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Crestock (a stock photography company) is running a photography contest. apparently it’s open to all comers, world-wide.

The prizes include a Leica D-LUX 3, and my favorite: Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II.

The best bit? These three points on the competition page:

- You retain all copyright.
- We will not sell your photos.
- Your image will only be used in the context of the contest. 

(via Digital Photography School’s blog)

On Saturday we (Mitch - My uncle, and Non/Lee - My Grandmother) went up to Gresford for lunch, and then wandered around a local wholesale nursery. The weather was mostly overcast, but I got a few decent shots.

The colour in this lichen growing on a tree trunk was pretty interesting - at first it seemed fairly dull - but fiddling with the colours (a little bit) produced some interesting results. And, yes, the leaves really are purple

This is apparently holly - but I’m not so certain. The red/green contrast is interesting, as is the light shining through the veins in the leaf.

Just a field mushroom growing under a tree - Mitch kicked over the better ones before I could stop him.

As promised before, Canon has released a Codec so that Vista can read Canon RAW Images. Microsoft PhotoBlog has the details for how to get it.

John Nack points to an article on how Image Stacks in Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended can be used for improving your photos. For example, removing people walking infront of your subject or removing noise.

Watch the demo John put up, quite amazing really for a few quick clicks.

The only problem is the price — Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended is AUD$1,735, and Lightroom is AUD$345 (which I’d get far more use out of).

Not easy for an amateur photographer to consider buying these, considering a nice L-Series lens is about the same combined price.

The Microsoft Photography Blog talks about an issue with the way Vista handles RAW files created by the Canon EOS 1D and 1Ds models.  (Though, why Canon chose “TIF” for a Raw File extension, I’ll never know - CRW and CR2 should suffice, surely)

The good news from it is that there is confirmation that Canon will be releasing a RAW codec for Windows Vista.    I just wish they’d hurry up and join Nikon and others that already have that support ‘out-of-the-box’.

I shoot almost exclusively in RAW now - So I usually need to install some bits of software to actually get at my photos (even for just a basic preview).

Canon have released the specs of their new Canon EOS 1D Camera, and it looks particularly nice:

• APS-H Size Sensor (NB: NOT Full-Frame, see below “1D vs 1Ds”)
• 10.1 Megapixels
• 10 Shots/sec, for about 110 JPEG Photos
  (Note: They tested on a 1GB CF Card, I assume that with a faster and larger card, you might get more)
• Weather sealing (as per all 1D and 1Ds)
• ISO 100 to 3200 (plus expansions to ISO 50 and ISO 6400)

The significant improvment in shots-per-second (10 shots per second, Up from 8.5 on the 1D Mark II), even with larger file sizes (10.1Mpx, up from 8.2Mpx on the 1D Mark II) is due to having two “DIG!C III” image processing chips running in parallel.

The sensor is also very very low noise - even at ISO 3200, the image appears to be almost as good as that from my 20D on any setting. So, when Canon say that the ISO 6400 setting is “highly usable”, they’re not bluffing.

They have added some other features - like a “Live Preview” - i.e what you get on a Point-and-shoot camera by default. It’s not something I’ve been particularly hanging out for on a DSLR - at least, not since I got used to using an SLR anyway.   The larger preview screen, however is probably more useful. Even if the pro’s do call it “chimping“.

 Lets just hope that Canon finally included the current ISO setting in the TTL preview, something several others have complained about before.

Oh - and go gawk at the sample images.  Oh, and all (bar one) of the samples were taken with L-series lenses - some of them worth over AUD$11,000.

EOS 1D vs EOS 1Ds

A lot of people get confused when talking about the Canon EOS 1D and Canon EOS 1Ds.  Here’s the differences:

There are, of course - other differences - but these are the major ones. Both models have weather sealing too.

Basicly, the 1D has always been aimed more at the sports and wildlife photographer or papparazzi type - those that have little time to get the right shot, and no possibility of a second chance.  i.e the ultimate in “spray and pray” photography.  

The 1Ds has been aimed more at fashion and others that need very large exposures, but don’t want to, or can’t use a digital medium-format camera. Plus, if you have a significant investment in EOS lenses, you don’t want to go re-purchasing them all again for a medium-format.