If you’re an avid geotagger and own a Nikon GP-1 (or compatible) on-camera GPS receiver, you may have found yourself in a situation where you had to take a photo even though your GPS unit wasn’t ready, thus leading to inaccurate or even missing latitude/longitude coordinates in your photo. A GPS receiver usually needs at least 30 to 40 seconds to acquire an accurate position fix in the open once you turn the camera on. Depending on your subject, that can be quite some time. An on-camera GPS unit like the Nikon GP-1 also puts quite a strain on your camera’s battery life.

On the other hand, if you’re using an off-camera geotagger like the Holux M-241 there’s always some sort of more or less complex post-processing workflow involved to store the GPS readings in your photo’s metadata header. I sometimes forget to switch my Holux M-241 on when I’m outside with the camera or even worse: I usually forget to take it with me at all. Doh!

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a GPS unit that sits on the camera (so I don’t forget it at home), runs on its own power but still is able to immediately store GPS readings in your photos whenever you take them? Running on it’s own power has the advantage that when you’re outside with your camera, you can simply forget about hot/warm/cold startup times or draining your camera’s battery and just concentrate on the non-GPS-side of photography.
This is where the Easytag GPS module (a.k.a. Easytagger) comes into play. The Easytagger is a hybrid between an off-camera and an on-camera GPS logger. Judging from the product description, this thing seems to be the jack of all trades:

• Stores GPS info directly to a photo’s metadata header (no matter if NEF or JPEG)
• Data logger mode: Ability to log a trail (a series of GPS readings) to a microSD card using the popular NMEA format
• 2-axis magnetic sensor to record heading
• Barometric altimeter
• Built-in rechargeable 500mAh Li-Ion battery, and in case it’s emtpy, draws power from the camera
• Unique design to allow mounting on flash accessory shoe and the built-in flash to be used at the same time
• Multi-model compatibility: simply use the appropriate data cable. 10-pin: Nikon D200, D300, D300s, D700, D3/D3s/D3x, D2/D2x/D2xs/D2Hs. 8-pin: Nikon D90, D5000
• No setup required, just plug and play!

But does the Easytagger really live up to its expectations? I’m going to have a close look at the Easytag GPS module from a Nikon D700 and a Mac user’s perspective. Read more »

I’ve always fancied the Nikon GP-1 GPS on-camera receiver for its ability to directly write geotagging information to a photo, including the Nikon .NEF RAW format, thus greatly reducing the complexity of the post-processing workflow involved when using an off-camera GPS logger like the Holux-M241. The Nikon GP-1 still costs around USD 200 which IMHO is a bit overpriced. Read more »

M8, that’s how Benro calls its carbon manufacturing process for its latest carbon monopod & tripod series. According to a press release, the difference between the older N6 and the new M8 process is:
“Based on Benro’ Generation ll C-series N6 Tripod , the new Generation C-series M8 Tripods use updated QIHM-8X Quasi Isotropic technology, providing 20% greater strength. Magnesium and Carbon materials are used to produce a tripod that’s 10% lighter”.

At least from the outside there’s no visible change between M8 and N6 (I also own an N6 series tripod) but then I am certainly not an expert in carbon fibers. When comparing the MC-96m8 monopod data with the older MC-96n6 model the only difference is that Benro doubled the maximum load capacity from 10kg to 20kg. No difference in weight (shouldn’t it be 10% lighter too?). Anyway, with 740g (26 oz) it’s still a lightweight. Read more »

In a previous post I wrote about the possibility to use the Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX 11-16mm lens on a Nikon FX body – in FX mode. I detected some corner softness with the Tokina on my D700 so I thought it would be useful to have a direct comparison between the two lenses in FX mode. The comparison itself is pretty unfair because the Tokina was designed to work only on APS-C (DX) DSLR’s and costs 3 times less than the Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm ultra wide zoom.

Weather conditions for a comparison test shot weren’t too good today but still sufficient to show the sharpness differences between the two ultra wide zoom lenses. Read more »

Even though I’m preferring Apple Aperture over iPhoto to post-process my RAW format photos, the new “Faces” feature in iPhoto ’09 (part of iLife ’09) sounded interesting enough to me to give iPhoto another try. To get some photos in iPhoto without having to duplicate them, I set it up to reference Aperture preview JPEGs in iPhoto’s preferences instead of copying them to the iPhoto library. The preset for Aperture preview JPEGs is 1/2 size of the original photo. Now I’m able to reference Aperture projects by dragging them to iPhoto using the Show Aperture Library menu in iPhoto’s File menu.  Read more »

Much has been written about the “plays-it-all” Popcorn Hour A-110 media player. After digging through a lot of mostly very positive reviews I decided to get one too. My movie collection mainly consists of ripped DVDs (VIDEO_TS), .M4V H.264 MPEG4 files, lots and lots of MPEG2-TS files from my Dreambox DM800 HD cable tuner and a few .FLV and .XVID files. All these video formats play instantly and with no problems on my XBMC-enhanced Apple TV including digital audio passthrough to my A/V receiver. Read more »

Here’s a review of iPhone and iPod touch apps that can be very useful to DSLR photographers. On one hand I was looking for iPhone apps which calculate sunrise and sunset times for a given location or even calculate the so called “blue hour”. On the other hand I was looking for apps that calculate depth of field, hyperfocal distance and flash exposure. I also had a look at some GPS coordinate tracker apps but due to (deliberate) limitations in the iPhone OS most of these apps don’t really work great. More on that later on. Read more »

The simple fact of notebook life is that notebooks simply don’t run as long on their batteries as they should. This is especially true for my MSI Wind U100 netbook. It came with a 3-cell battery that delivers approximately 1,5 to 2 hours of unplugged time. MSI offers a 6-cell battery and an even more powerful 9-cell battery is reportedly in the works. Read more »

I’m a big fan of the Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G VR II AF-S lens because it’s so versatile. It’s also a great companion to my Tokina AT-X 116 ultra wide angle zoom lens. Both fit nicely into my small LowePro SlingShot camera bag and it doesn’t get too heavy.

After reading Ken Rockwell’s review about the Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G I was curious to see how much sharper it is than my 18-200mm lens. Ken claims the 28-80mm to be “unbelievably sharp”. Read more »

I’ve been using an A-series Cokin filter system for years but with the transition to bigger lenses I had to transition to the larger P-series Cokin filter system. Now I’m using the rather slim wide-angle holder P299 to reduce vignetting for shorter focal lengths. I don’t need the possibility to hold more than one filter as I’m only using a single graduated neutral density (GND) filter anyway. Cokin filters are expensive in my country. The P-series filters have a price tag of around 50 US$. They cost half the price on Adorama or B&H but they charge 50 US$ (!) just for shipping the filter to Switzerland.
So I searched on eBay for less expensive soft edged graduated filters and found some P-series compatible filters from a Chinese company called Tian-Ya. Read more »

Here’s a review of geotagging tools available as of today (July ’08). I tested all of them personally and tried to come up with a pro & con list on each of them. If you know a geotagging Mac application that’s not included on this list, please drop a comment. Read more »

My Philips LCD TV features 3 HDMI inputs but the number of HDMI devices on my home entertainment system is increasing steadily. There just aren’t enough HDMI inputs on the TV.

The more expensive solution would be to buy a new A/V receiver that sports multiple HDMI inputs like the Sony STR-DA4400ES. The much less expensive solution would be to buy one of the few HDCP-capable HDMI-switches around. Because I already own an Apple TV and after reading this positive review on AppleInsider, I decided to go for the XtremeMac 4-port HDMI switcher. The switch has the same dimensions as Apple TV and looks similar to it, even though the build quality is no match for Apple TV. Read more »

The latest version of Kekus LensFix CI features a beta Aperture 2.1 plug-in. It works pretty well as you can see in my animated GIF below (please click to enlarge). Read more »

On my last trip to NYC I noticed that my Nikkor 18-200mm (27-300mm) zoom lens wasn’t wide enough for quite a few locations. I was looking for a non-fisheye, ultra-wide lens for some time when a fellow pointed me to the brand new Tokina AT-X 11-16mm f/2.8 zoom, that’s 16-24mm on my Nikon D80. The same model is available for Canon DSLRs too. The lens is a DX which means it should be used on crop sensor DSLRs only. The quality of the lens body is very good, nothing feels cheap or flimsy. Read more »

I finally found the (almost) perfect tripod for me. I decided to go for the Benro HVC Flexpod C-298n6 with a Benro KS-0 ballhead for the following reasons:

• Lightweight (legs made of carbon fiber)
• Extractable/reversible center column
• Maximum load of tripod and ballhead is 8kg (17.4 lbs)
• Maximum height is 167cm (65 in.)
• Fits into my travel gear (folded: 54.5cm/21.5 in. + ballhead height)
• Affordable price tag (for a full-height carbon tripod)

Read more »