Author: Richard

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Hex Core Mac Pro

As those of you know who read this blog, I have been thinking hard about what my next computer will be. 

Buying high end  Mac Laptops has so far done me well. I get seven years out of them before Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom force me to upgrade. 

Looking at machines now on this website here, I am driven by the want (not need) of a smaller lighter laptop, eg a MacBook Air. 

The Air great as it is, is not really suited to Adobe heavy lifting. So instead I have been looking at refurb MacPro Desktops. 

Well after much waiting a range of MacPros from Quad core 256GB SSD 12 GB RAM to Octo core 1TB SSD 32GB models appeared. 

A mid range Hex core with 512 SSD 16GB look good and I had a good think. This was Tuesday night. 

By the time I had decided to buy it had gone. 

But on Wednesday morning one of the spec I wanted was back. A quick email to my wife to approve the purchase and I clicked buy. 

Well it arrived Thursday morning and I’ll be spending the next few days setting it from scratch rather then importing all my junk off my laptop. 

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The Lincoln Magna Carta

Its been a proud moment for Lincoln as the world celebrates the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.

Lincoln Cathedral owns one of only four original copies, written by the Bishop of Lincoln’s chief scribe, it is now believed that the Bishop helped negotiate the document between the Barons and the King.

Lincoln has been celebrated all weekend and as part of the celebration it has created the Baron’s Trail. Dotted around the city are twenty hand painted Barons. They are quite a site.

A few weeks ago there was an advance showing and I happened to be around to grab a few shots. If I get the time i’ll have a walk round the city and try and photograph them all In situ.

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Back Side Illumination and Stacked Sensors

BSI and Stacked Sensors

For the last few years digital sensor improvements have been slow but steady.  Its hard to find a bad camera today.

The latest buzzwords are Back Side Illumination and Stacked Sensors.  The Nikon V1 was one of the first cameras to use the new BSI sensors, but what does this mean.

In a typical sensor you have the sensor pits, but the available surface area has also to be shared with the supporting electronics, reducing the area for light collection.  In full frame sensors and medium format the area lost is inconsequential but as the sensor gets smaller the percentage area lost increases.  BSI and Stacked sensors, basically moves more of the supporting electronics underneath allowing more available area for light collection.

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Updated Nikkor 500mm and 600mm f/4 Lens

Nikon-AF-S-NIKKOR-500mm-f4G-ED-VR-Lens-550x250Today Nikon announced some updates to their exotic telephoto’s.  Both the 500mm f/4 and the 600mm f/4 received updates.

The main thing is updated elements containing the new fluorite lens coating which corrects chromatic aberration and allows lighter glass.

 

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The Leica Q – The Real Mini ‘M’?

Leica QWhen the Leica X Vario was announced it was marketed as a Mini M.  With its excelent build quality and image quality, Leica though they had a hit on their hands.  Unfortunately coupled with a slow zoom lens, and the marketing hype, it just could not live up to the expectation.

Today we have a new compact announced, this time the Leica Q.  Think Sony RX1 crossed with the best bits of a Leica X, add a viewfinder and you have the Leica Q.

A very simple fixed lens compact, with the excellent and innovative focusing of the Leica X (Type 113) but with a Leica full frame sensor and finally a EVF.

Leica Q Focusing

One could really call this a mini M.  I have read a couple of reviews and finally we have a Leica where the electronics don’t get in the way or slow down the photographer.

You can check out the reviews at most popular photography sites:

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2015/06/10/the-leica-q-real-world-camera-review-by-steve-huff/

http://www.slack.co.uk/2015/Hemingway.html

http://blog.mingthein.com/2015/06/10/review-2015-leica-q-typ-116/#more-11294

 

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WWDC 2015

WWWDC2015
Its Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference this week.  While hardware was not featured we did see the next update to iOS and to OS X.

Nothing spectacular but the multitasking updates for iOS for the latest iPads and the graphics and windowing improvements to OS X are nice additions.  If the performance updates for Adobe are real then a new Mac and the new OS may make things really fly!

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Lincoln Bike Fest

Biker Days
Biker Days

If you don’t like motorcycles or motorcyclists then once again, this weekend was not the time to be in Lincoln.  This weekend was the Lincoln Bike Fest, and annual event where hundreds of bikers turn up and park up on the Brayford Wharf.  Its worth a visit to see the sites and there are some nice restaurants and bars also on the Wharf so plenty to do.

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The 12 inch MacBook

MacBook12Got the chance to look at the new 12 inch MacBook from Apple.  Its a fantastic little laptop, not suitable for real power work, but if all you need is Office apps, email and internet its a fantastic little road warriors laptop.

For me, I have it down to either a new 15 inch MacBook Pro or the desktop MacPro if I can get one from the refurb store at a good discount.

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Lincoln 1940’s Weekend

Leica M8 50mm Summicron
Leica M8 50mm Summicron

One good thing about living near Lincoln is that there always seems to be something going. Whether the Santa Run or Lincoln Christmas Market in the winter to cycle races and Steam Punk events.

Last weekend was Lincoln’s 1940’s weekend and unfortunately I could not make it but from looking at the photographs people have been post on the Internet it looks like it was a fun filled weekend with lots of photographic opportunities.