Archive for April, 2007

Canon recently published a set of PDF documents collectively titled “EF Lens Work III” that give you all the details about the EF lens system and their application to the digital photographer. It is a very necessary reading for the Canon user, but also a very good information for the others.

When, as I do, you want to include some bits and pieces of software code in a WordPress post, it starts to become a serious headache. As a matter of fact, WP has not really been prepared for this and it creates a number of issues. Those I already encountered here:

• The <?php tend to disappear (unless you start juggling)
• Some charcaters would not display at all (or badly)
• The overall presentation is pretty bland if you use <code>

So, I looked for a plugin (nearly everything in WordPress is done by adding on of those marvellous little code gems that can be included in a few seconds into the basic configuration) adapted to this task, easy to install (I don’t want to be stuck with heavy maintenance just for this), easy to use.

Here is the summary of what I checked and my opinion regarding them.
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This week, nVidia launched a large number of new 8500 and 8600 graphics boards (the low cost complements to the 8800 series that is currently at the high-end of the market). nVidia also presented its 8800 Ultra (overclocked 8800). Thus, nVidia is now fully covering the market (from low-cost to high-performance) with DirectX 10 compatible solutions (capable to manage all graphics from all the versions of Windows Vista and to support the new games that should require this platform during 2007).

Meanwhile, AMD (previously ATI) is still announcing its HD 2600 series (also known under the R600 architecture code name) that should hit nVidia with high-end features including full support for HD-TV applications.

I find it striking to see that AMD is currently under fire from all sides. The CPU division is facing an Intel betting on its technical advantage of the time and leading AMD into a bloody price war that strangle margins. The graphics division (ex-ATI) met difficulties when developping the R600/HD 2600 and that delayed significantly the products that are no longer expected before May 2007.

I have to admit that -in this context- the financial results of AMD announced this week (profits loss of 611 millions dollars for the first quarter) cannot be surprising. Parallely, Intel finances are flying high and its market share is continuously improving again. The billion-dollar-question is how AMD will be able to correct this doom trajectory. We expect this obvious impatience the arrival of the new processor architectures (double and quadruple core, specifically) able to really fight against the Core 2 Duo from Intel and the first boards based on the R600 chipset to see them back in the game again (Journalists accredited by AMD will be in Tunisia next week to discover all the details, but they are not allowed to speak until AMD lifts the NDA).

Before that, it is probably important to be patient with AMD and to remember that it is only by giving them our purchases that we can support a company that nearly broke the monopoly of Intel on the processors (with all the Customer advantages of free competition).

A neat trick that was hanging around the Internet but that I found in Transnets. How to search with Google for the MP3 files of your artist of choice. Use the following search phrase (replacing Roumazeilles with the artist name):

Mozilla just announced the availability of the newest version of its email reader Thunderbird.

New functionalities.

English versions:

• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Linux

French versions:

• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Linux

Amazon just opened the pre-orders for the Canon EOS 1D Mk III, high-end digital single lens reflex. Announced availability: 20th June.

Digital Photo Academy is a Panasonic-LUMIX initiative for the American users of digital cameras. They will be holding teaching courses and presentations open to all users of those D-SLR and compact cameras.

The web site is not yet open, but more news just before May 2007.

If you are interested in the simulation games like Civilization, you may be interested to know that 2K Games is hiding a free download link for the (slightly older) Railroad Tycoon, on the home page of Railroads! web site.

Download Railroad Tycoon.

Have fun, be free.

In our series of reference technical papers, we invite you to go and check “What’s behind vibration reduction“, a very interesting description of the technology Nikon uses to reduce image blur caused by vibrations of the photo camera (or of the photographer). It is quite nicely done (cool desing from Nikon) and deeply documented. Just take some time to check it all.

Some assemble really big images. Some do it professionally, like NASA.

They took a huge number of satellite images and made a 0.5 giga-pixel photo of the Earth (up to 21600×21600), known as the Visible Earth.

Remember it: The Nikon D40 does not include the usual autofocus motor (for obvious cost reasons) and leaves this bruden onto the lens itself. Of course, it means that some lenses are not fully usable with the D40. Some others have no problem with the small Nikon digital camera because they include the needed motor. Sigma published its own list of lenses compatible with the D40.