Adobe shoots self in foot!

October 15, 2024 by Peter

Adobe gives another reason to leave.

Well not quite but it really made my decision to exit their ecosystem final. In the last round of auto-updates I got a nice message that many adobe products I had are no longer compatible with my equipment. To keep using their products I needed to upgrade(buy) all new computes. Big Nope, not doing it because they want to add even more AI features to their products.

Here is the nice screen I got when the Adobe Creative Cloud update process started.

Adobe update screen showing their products no longer compatible with old hardware. — Screen shot showing products no longer compatible with hardware

ON1 keeps on rolling.

My current pick (even their newest 2025preview) seems to work just fine.

Canon Camera End of Life

April 10, 2023 by Peter

End of support date (no longer repairable)

Several old generation DSLR bodies like the 1Dx mk-iii, EOS 5Dsr, 5D mk-iv, 6D MK-ii and 90D appear to have end of life dates after some of the newer next generation EOS R and Ra bodies
End of Life (EOL) Table of Canon bodies not currently on list of already discontinued (unrepairable) hardware

Body	EOL Year	EOL Month
DSLR series
EOS-1D X Mark II	2026	7
EOS-1D X Mark III	TBD	TBD
EOS 5D Mark III	2024	3
EOS 5D Mark IV	TBD	TBD
EOS 5Ds	2027	5
EOS 5Ds R	2028	8
EOS 6D	2025	9
EOS 6D Mark II	TBD	TBD
EOS 7D Mark II	2027	1
EOS 70D	2023	11
EOS 80D	2027	10
EOS 90D	TBD	TBD

M series mirrorless
EOS M3	2024	7
EOS M5	2026	2
EOS M6	2027	3
EOS M6 Mark II	2029	3
EOS M10	2024	9
EOS M100	2026	11
EOS M200	TBD	TBD
EOS M200 (Gold)	2028	3
EOS KissM	2027	1
EOS KissM II	TBD	TBD

R series mirrorless
EOS R	2029	1
EOS R3	TBD	TBD
EOS R5	TBD	TBD
EOS R5c	TBD	TBD
EOS R6	TBD	TBD
EOS R6 ii	TBD	TBD
EOS R7	TBD	TBD
EOS R8	TBD	TBD
EOS R10	TBD	TBD
EOS R50	TBD	TBD
EOS R100	TBD	TBD
EOS Ra	2028	1
EOS RP	TBD	TBD

TBD = To Be Determined (not yet announced)

Canon maintains and regularly updates

A web page of product life cycles for all Canon products in Japanese here Product Life Cycle link
A web page of out of support (unrepairable) Canon products in Japanese here Out Of Support link
You can have google translate the previous pages to your preferred language here: Google Website Translate link

Bags and Camera Backpacks

January 6, 2023 by Peter

Early gathering of my camera bags farm as it was in 2012 — Early gathering of my bag farm as it was in 2012

The camera backpack and bags farm

As requirements and needs change over time one accumulates a variety of camera bags and backpacks in the search of that “perfect” one “does it all” bag that does not exist!

I dragged them all out, took a photo of the bag family, and cataloged them all. (Going to have to take a new updated photo some day. Since I made half dozen or so new addition since this one was taken.)

These are the lists of the currently high use bags that head out with me. I have included a list of the entire bag family.

Lowepro seems to be the preferred go-to manufacturer for soft bags. In all my decades of use their products have never let me down!
Though the ThinkTank Retrospective 7 has become a favorite for city wanderings and air travel.
While Pelican (they also make Storm) are my choice for my hard shell cases.

I have replaced both the old LowePro Photo Trekker Classic and Slingshot 300 AW backpacks with a newer design Lowepro Flipside 400 AW backpack. Hoping for lighter weight and less stress on an easy to malfunction shoulder.

The search for a camera bag and backpack that is waterproof, weighs next to nothing, is comfortable and can hold everything including the kitchen sink continues!

The great camera bag reduction of 2022

Near the end of 2022 we gave away, donated or sold many of the bags we had accumulated. Thus reducing the number to the ones that were actually being used. Somehow even after “the big reduction” there remain a lot of bags that I still a need to find places to store them all.

My current in active use bags

Manufacturer	Product	Usage
ThinkTank	Retrospective 7	day hiking, city wandering / urban exploration, travel carry-on
LowePro	Flipside AW 400	field kit, day hiking
Kata-bags	MarvelX-40DL	small vlogging camera
LowePro	S&F Filter Pouch 100	Filter’s and holder rarely used anymore
LowePro	S&F Lens Exchange 200 AW	FlipSide add-on rarely used anymore
LowePro	EX 180	“Strobist” lighting kit
Gitzo	GC3100 Series 3 Tripod Bag	vehicle tripod transport
Benro	AC1046 Tripod Bag	vehicle tripod transport
Pelican	1520 case	vehicle gear transport
LowePro	Stealth reporter D400 AW	events
LowePro	Fastpack 200	wife’s taken it for her kit

The entire bag farm

Manufacturer	Product	Usage
Benro	AC1046 Tripod Bag	vehicle tripod transport
Gitzo	GC3100 Series 3 Tripod Bag	vehicle tripod transport
Kata-bags	MarvelX-40DL	Small vlogging camera
LowePro	Flipside AW 400	field kit, day hiking
LowePro	S&F Lens Exchange 200 AW	FlipSide add-on rarely used anymore
LowePro	S&F Filter pouch 100	Filter’s and holders rarely used anymore
LowePro	Toploader	day trips to big city
LowePro	Fastpack 200	wife’s taken it for her kit
LowePro	Stealth reporter D400 AW	events
LowePro	EX 180	“Strobist” lighting kit
LowePro	D-pods 30	point&shoot
LowePro	D-Res 20AW	camcorder
Pelican	1520 case	vehicle gear transport
Pelican	1300 case	kayaking – dslr
Storm	model 2500	kayaking – P&S
Storm	keycase	kayaking – car keys
Sigma	EX 120-300 case	came with lens
Sigma	EX 150 macro case	came with lens
ThinkTank	Retrospective 7	day hiking, city wandering / urban exploration, travel carry-on

Top 10 Software I use for editing

January 2, 2023 by Peter

These are the new and just updated for 2023 TOP 10 software packages I currently use for my image and video editing. As well as the hardware I use to run them on.

Surprisingly six of the ten programs can be had FREE for non-commercial use!
While three are subscription model products, and one is free but requires custom proprietary hardware.

Links to all the applications both free and paid are at the bottom of page.

The Software

What I edit still images with:

Name	Description
Adobe Creative Cloud Lightroom Classic	Image developer and catalog
Adobe Creative Cloud Photoshop	Image Editor
Picolay	Focus stacker by Heribert Cypionka

What I use to edit still images

My image catalog database is currently

Adobe Creative Cloud Lightroom (Image developer and catalog)

What I create videos with:

Name	Description
Blackmagic DaVnci Resolve 18	Insanely powerful video and audio editor
OBS Studio	Screen capture and live stream
qDslr dashboard	Tethering and time-lapse
Handbrake	Video converter
Audacity	Audio editor

What I uses to create videos

The Hardware

The Monitors

ASUS ProArt PA248 (Main image editing display)
Samsung S27R350 (Text and control panels)
Samsung S27R350 (everything else)

The rapidly ageing eaters of bits

Custom built Intel I7 system with
- 32Gb RAM
- 2 * 512Gb SSD + 2 * 4Tb sata3 internal drives
- Nvidea rtx 1650 4Gb video card
- Wacom Intuos 3 9*12 tablet
Custom built Intel I5 system with
- 16Gb RAM
- 512Gb SSD + 4Tb sata3
- Nvidea rtx 1030 2Gb video card

Backup & Stability

Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (data backup)
A random array of Western Digital external drives (backup medium, on and offsite)
Apc UPS unit(s) (power stabilization)

Here are the links to all the products if you want to get any them

Links will open new tabs or windows.

Paid/subscription

Name	Description and link	Platform
Adobe Photography bundle	includes both Lightroom & Photoshop for $9.99us/month http://bit.ly/2rbDvvF	w m
Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office	(search web for discount coupons!) http://bit.ly/Acronispp	w m a i

Paid software – platform: w = Windows, m = Mac, a = Android, i = Ios

Free!

The following ~~seven~~ six products I use can all be downloaded and used for free!

Name	Description and link	Platform
BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve 18	(video/audio editor) http://bit.ly/resolvepp – non commercial use	w m
Microsoft ICE	(Panorama stitcher) – no longer available	w
Picolay	(Focus stacker, 3d renderer) http://bit.ly/picolay	w
Handbrake	(video converter) https://handbrake.fr/	w m l
Audacity	(audio editor) http://bit.ly/audaditypp	w m l
qDslr Dashboard	(remote camera control) http://bit.ly/2IVppWf Wired, wireless, timelapse, bramping, focus stacking Free on windows/mac and paid app for android/ios	all wmlair
WeMacro controller * * requires wemacro rail	WeMacro Focus stacking rail software https://bit.ly/wemacrosw	w m a i

Free software – platform: w = Windows, m = Mac, l = Linux, a = Android, i = Ios, r = Raspberry

CSC Camera prices. A brief history

January 2, 2023 by Peter

Palantir See All mystic DSLR CSC — Palantir See All, the mystic DSLR

Are camera CSC body costs rising, stable or falling?

* NEW * Table updated January 2023 to include the mirror-less R series!

To answer that question I took a look into the past. Checking in on the mid level CSC bodies from Canon since the introduction of the venerable 3.1 megapixel D30 way back in 2000. I grouped both DSLRs and mirrorless bodies under the CSC umbrella.

I created a table of a brief history of Canon DSLR & Mirrorless introduction dates and their pricing at the time of introduction.
Not including the top end 1D series and low end Rebel series.
Basically cut the top and bottom off, just looking at the middle so called prosumer level bodies.

The table lists the Canon body “Manufacturer Suggester Retail Prices” in the USA at time of their announcements.
Which surprisingly seems to have remained fairly stable over the years for each series of bodies.

If you factor in the ever rising inflation rate the actual cost of the bodies has in fact been slightly decreasing! Right along with the decreasing buying power of the mighty dollar as the years advance.

Body	Month	Year	Suggested Price at introduction	Megapixels	Processor	Sensor Size
D30	May	2000	MSRP US$3,500	03.1mp	–
D60	February	2002	MSRP US$2,199	06.3mp	–
10D	February	2003	MSRP US$1,499	06.3mp	DIGIC	aps-c
20D	August	2004	MSRP US$1,499	08.2mp	DIGIC ii	aps-c
30D	February	2006	MSRP US$1,399	08.2mp	DIGIC ii	aps-c
40D	August	2007	MSRP US$1,299	10.2mp	DIGIC iii	aps-c
50D	August	2008	MSRP US$1,399	15.2mp	DIGIC 4	aps-c
60D	August	2010	MSRP US$1,099	18.0mp	DIGIC 4	aps-c
70D	July	2013	MSRP US$1,199	20.2mp	DIGIC 5+	aps-c
80D	February	2016	MSRP US$1,199	24.2mp	DIGIC 6	aps-c
77D	February	2017	MSRP US$0,899	24.2mp	DIGIC 7	aps-c
90D (end of line for xxD)	August	2019	MSRP US$1,199	32.5mp	DIGIC 8	aps-c
7D	September	2009	MSRP US$1,699	18.0mp	dual DIGIC 4	aps-c
7D mk-ii (end of line for 7D series)	September	2014	MSRP US$1,799	20.2mp	dual DIGIC 6	aps-c
5D	August	2005	MSRP US$3,299	12.8mp	DIGIC ii	FF
5D mk-ii	September	2008	MSRP US$2,699	21.1mp	DIGIC 4	FF
5D mk-iii	March	2012	MSRP US$3,299	22.3mp	DIGIC 5+	FF
6D	September	2012	MSRP US$2,099	20.2mp	DIGIC 5+	FF
5DS	February	2015	MSRP US$3,699	50.6mp	dual DIGIC 6	FF
5DSr	February	2016	MSRP US$3,899	50.6mp	dual DIGIC 6	FF
5D mk-iv (end of line for 5D series)	August	2016	MSRP US$3,499	30.1mp	DIGIC 6+	FF
6D mk-ii (end of line for 6D series)	June	2017	MSRP US$1,999	26.2mp	DIGIC 7	FF
Mirror less R series All EF series discontinued
R	October	2018	MSRP US$2,299	30.1mp	DIGIC 8	FF
RP	March	2019	MSRP US$1,299	26.2mp	DIGIC 8	FF
R5	July	2020	MSRP US$3,899	44.8mp	DIGIC X	FF
R6	July	2020	MSRP US$2,499	20.1mp	DIGIC X	FF
R3	November	2021	MSRP US$5,999	24.1mp	DIGIC X	FF
R5C	March	2022	MSRP US$4,799	44.8mp	DIGIC X	FF Cinema
R7	June	2022	MSRP US$1,499	32.5mp	DIGIC X	aps-c
R10	June	2022	MSRP US$0,799	24.2mp	DIGIC X	aps-c
R6-mkii	November	2022	MSRP US$2,499	24.2mp	DIGIC X	FF
R8	February	2023	MSRP US$1.499	24.2mp	DIGIC X	FF
R50	February	2023	MSRP US$679	24.2mp	DIGIC X	aps-c

New year and Finally done with all the changes!

January 2, 2014 by Peter

Looking up

New Year and DONE!

Finally just in time for the new year,
completed all the major changes to the image library.

It really nice to have Lightroom handling most tasks almost automatically, including uploading selected images to the Photoshelter image bank, my 500px feed and even facebook (yuck on that one.)
So went forth and bought myself a new decent ASUS ProArt PA248Q IPS monitor to celebrate, unfortunately it really shows how bad the color was on my supposedly calibrated Samsung 23″ consumer grade monitor.

However the 2 monitors are working out very well side by side with the Asus being used to display the image being worked on while the Samsung is handling the text and menus.

Also picked up a NetGear Push2TV over the holidays, it lets me wireless display anything my Google tablet & laptop see over Miracast or WiDi, will be great for shows & seminars (Now hoping some nice Santa brings me a 1080p projector next year. )

Pete’s What’s in the bag – My Storm Kit box

June 26, 2013 by Peter

The grab and go storm kit box

What’s in the Bag

The Storm Kit Box

Peek into some of the equipment kit I carry in the “What’s in my bag article” on blogger
http://imagemakersjourneys.blogspot.ca/2013/06/storm-kit-box.html

The “Storm box” was assembled to hold all the small bits.
That might be needed to run after and photograph a storm.
A few of the larger “bits” don’t fit in the box.
But many server dual purposes especially the safety items.
Click the link above to see what is in the box and what the bigger items are that do not fit nicely in such a small Pelican 1300 case!

As with most things, especially storms think Safety First!