Category: Computing

General computing with a bias towards Unix, OS X, Apple products, for use in Music and Photography

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iOS 9.3

Yesterday along with the hardware announcements, Apple released iOS 9.3.

I updated my phone without any issues but the update to the old iPad2 did not work.  It would loop on the setup screen and each time fail when it tried to authorise itself with Apple’s servers.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7501205?start=0&tstart=0

As you can see from the above link it was mainly iPad2’s with Cell and GPS functionality affected.

The usual way to recover from this type of situation is to boot into recovery mode and restore.  You did backup before you started your upgraded?  I had and so soon got everything back, but do remember to directly attach via the iPad cable direct to a USB port on the computer, for some reason I could not get it to work using a Thunderbolt Hub.

BOOTING INTO RECOVERY

  1. With the device is OFF, press and hold the Home + Power buttons together until the screen turns ON.
  2. Now, connect your phone to the PC using USB cable and while keeping the Home button pressed.
  3. When you see a screen iTunes icon and of a USB cable, release the Home button.

I left my iPad connected to the computer during the above as its much easier then trying to plug it in while holding home button.  People say that does not always work but it did for me.

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iPad Pro goes small

iPadProGenerally each September we get an iPhone and iPad update from Apple.  This time there was no iPad update but we got a giant iPad Pro.

Well this time the standard sized iPad got the same updates.  Called by many the iPad 9.7, this has all the features of the larger in a smaller package.  With the recent updates to Lightroom and the new web functionality I look forward to see if we have a workable RAW workflow.  If we do then I think i’ll be placing an order.

Apple also announced a new line of Lightning adapters that allow you to connect the tablet to a USB camera adapter, SD card reader or Ethernet cord.

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The worlds Best Camera – The Smart Phone

Whats the best camera?  The camera you have with you.

Is that the big heavy SLR hung round your neck, the latest mirrorless, the biggest baddest sensor with the most megapixels.

Well if you look at Flicker its the smartphone.  Most phones now have cameras and we nearly always have our phones with us.

Well we now have a press release from Leica and Huawei.  Huawei are the third largest smartphone manufacture and they have teamed up with Leica to produce the best smartphone camera.

https://en.leica-camera.com/Company/Press-Centre/Press-Releases/Press-Releases-2016/Press-Release-HUAWEI-and-Leica-Camera-announce-long-term-technology-partnership-for-the-reinvention-of-smartphone-photography

 

 

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Updating CC and Comparing Panoramas in v2015.3 vs v2015.4

Adobe Upgrade

Well nothing has gone wrong on my laptop so its time to update my main machine.

Screen Shot 2016-03-02 at 08.33.57

The feature that I have wanted to play with the most is the new Boundary Warp, when creating panoramas.

Screen Shot 2016-03-02 at 08.34.12

When shooting handheld you always get a lot of white space.  This means cropping and loosing some of the shot.  Now with the boundary warp you can get some of that back.  There will be a lose of quality and its up to you to decide if its worthwhile for a particular shot, but its nice to have the option.

Pano v2015.3
Pano v2015.3
Pano Test v2015.4 with boundary warp at 100%
Pano Test v2015.4 with boundary warp at 100%
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Adobe CC Updates

Lightroom PanoramicWe had another set of Adobe updates recently and I have been holding off from updating.  It seems it was a good idea as the update seems to have been deleting other application folders not related to Adobe.

Come on Adobe I used to trust you and update straight away, now its worry, I have to hold off, test on a spare laptop before risking my main machine.

The latest Adobe Lightroom has added an interesting new feature to those of us who create panoramic images by stitching photographs.  Generally you will end up with white space resulting in having to crop tighter, but now you can use boundary warp to fill in the white space.

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Leica T Firmware 1.5 update

Leica T v1.5

Hot on the heals of the Leica T v1.4 update we now have a v1.5 update, one of the more interesting new features is the ability to make the camera a wireless hotspot so you can perform wireless operations using the iOS application and not need to have a wireless network around, you can create your own ad-hock one directly between your phone/tablet and camera.

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A new M needing new Glass

Leica M 28mm 25mm

Its made a few people wonder about the new updated lens that Leica have started to release recently for the M.

The older glass was certainly no slouch in the performance states but most of the common lens have now been updated to even higher performance.  With the old glass working fine on the current 24 MP Leica M 240 but with a new M due this year its making people think that we might get a big megapixel jump thus higher resolution required in the lens.

Personally I would like Leica to keep it under 36 MP but with better dynamic range and low light performance.