Albertech.net » Tech

Photoshop CS3: Supported Canon and Nikon Cameras for RAW

admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:13:54 +0000

One consideration in buying a new SLR camera is make sure your photo editing software supports RAW natively. If not, then you will need to go through an intermediate program that converts the RAW photo format into a more universal format such as DNG. Photoshop CS3 seems to be getting outdated nowdays with the Photoshop CS4 release. This means less Photoshop CS3 updates from Adobe for supporting new cameras. Here is a list of Canon and Nikon cameras that are currently supported with Photoshop CS3. Notice the Canon EOS 500D T1i, Canon Powershot SX1 IS , and Nikon D5000 are not on the list. Photoshop CS3 only supports Camera Raw 4 updates. Photoshop CS4 uses the new Camera Raw 5 updates.

Here’s the list of supported Canon and Nikon Cameras with Photoshop CS3 RAW:

Canon

EOS-1D
EOS-1D Mark II
EOS-1D Mark II N
EOS-1D Mark III
EOS-1Ds
EOS-1Ds Mark II
EOS-1Ds Mark III
EOS 5D
EOS 10D
EOS 20D
EOS 20Da
EOS 30D
EOS 40D
EOS 50D
EOS D30
EOS D60
EOS Digital Rebel (EOS 300D/EOS Kiss Digital)
EOS Digital Rebel XS (EOS 1000D/EOS Kiss F)
EOS Digital Rebel XSi (EOS 450D/EOS Kiss Digital X2)
EOS Digital Rebel XT (EOS 350D/EOS Kiss Digital N)
EOS Digital Rebel XTi (EOS 400D/EOS Kiss Digital X)
PowerShot 600
PowerShot A5
PowerShot A50
PowerShot G1
PowerShot G2
PowerShot G3
PowerShot G5
PowerShot G6
PowerShot G9
PowerShot Pro 1
PowerShot Pro70
PowerShot Pro90 IS
PowerShot S30
PowerShot S40
PowerShot S45
PowerShot S50
PowerShot S60
PowerShot S70

Nikon

Coolpix 5000
Coolpix 5400
Coolpix 5700
Coolpix 8400
Coolpix 8700
Coolpix 8800
Coolpix P6000
D1
D1H
D1X
D100
D2H
D2Hs
D2X
D2Xs
D200
D3
D300
D40
D40x
D50
D60
D70
D70s
D700
D80
D90

For more information visit:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/402/kb402444.html#CR4.6

Extend the G1 battery life in NYC subway

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 05:00:27 +0000

While travelling in NYC, I noticed that my T-Mobile Google Phone G1 would run out of battery after 8 hours. I tried the resolve this by changing the data network to 2G, but it did not affect it at all. Note, I have turned off most services on my phone too — no e-mail sync, no bluetooth, and no wireless.

The problem appears to be occuring when there is no data/voice cell phone coverage, the G1 uses a LOT of battery power to find a signal. Normally, I never run in the red (<10%) with a good amount of usage on the phone. The only way I was able to extend the battery life was to use the “Airplane Mode” on the phone while in the subway. Unfortunately, this prevents people from calling me while in the subway. But, it doesn’t matter anyway — AT&T coverage is much better in the subway vs. T-Mobile.

As far as devices that extend the G1 battery life, they are far and few between. I have some issues with the G1 — GPS isn’t working all the time (hardly ever works), awkward ergonomics, SLOW CAMERA (4-8 seconds to capture the image), and the browser still needs refinement. It needs multi touch!! The zoom interface is poor, I always end up touching another link on a page I’m looking at rather than the zoom buttons. I’m waiting for Kensington to make a mini battery extender for the G1, otherwise I might be in the market for the iPhone.

How to install Photoshop on a netbook

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:22:22 +0000

Netbooks are gaining popularity for their convenience and price range. There are some limitations due to the screen resolution, 1024×600 on the 9″ screens. This is a roadblock when installing applications such as Photoshop, which require a minimum resolution 1024×768.

To get around the limitation, you will need an external monitor with a resolution of 1024×768 or higher and an external video port on the netbook (Dell Mini 9 has it built-in) Hook up the external monitor to the netbook. Make sure you are NOT running in mirror mode. I usually put the the external monitor on the right side. Next, run the installer. The install should go through ok. Running Photoshop on a netbook is usable, although some menu screens will get cut off due to the smaller resolution.

Open source video converter software

admin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:37:43 +0000

I have found a useful free video converter software. Its great for converting flv files to avi/mpeg/mov. It works quite well for a free video converter. I was able to convert videos from one format to another without any major issues.

WinFF http://winff.org

WinFF is a GUI for the command line video converter, FFMPEG. It will convert most any video file that FFmpeg will convert. WinFF does multiple files in multiple formats at one time. You can for example convert mpeg’s, flv’s, and mov’s, all into avi’s all at once.

Easy to use interface.
Fast (Winff does not hinder FFmpeg in anyway).
High quality output.
Converts multiple different files all to the same format at once.
Convert video to audio.
Convert between audio formats.
No external codecs needed.
Includes a variety of preset conversion settings for common formats and devices.
Supports FFmpeg’s Multithreading for dual core processers
Multilingual, available in over 10 languages

Activating the T-Mobile G1 Android Google Phone

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:30:17 +0000

Having trouble activating the G1 Android Google Phone?

If you buy the G1 Android in a store, you probably won’t have problems activating it since they help you set it up. However, if you buy the phone online and use an existing SIM card, I suggest calling T-mobile first to make sure you have the G1 data plan on your line. I had problems activating the phone since I assumed that my existing data plan would work ok. Not the case. It looks like T-Mobile has locked down the G1 phones to ONLY activate on lines with the G1 data service.

I had the smart phone unlimited internet service on my account (which costs exactly the same as the G1 service) and it kept on erroring out. The message said that the phone was unable to communicate with the Google servers. I also tried following directions on some forums that said you can “use any T-mobile phone with a data plan” to activate it. It didn’t work for me. Even though I had the “Edge” connection icon on the phone, the activation would keep on failing.

I wanted to see if changing the APN settings would do anything. No luck there. On the bright side, I learned how to hard reset the G1 Android! Hold the home + power buttons to turn on the G1. Once the phone turns on and displays an icon of the phone, open the keyboard and hold alt first + w. NOTE: This will ERASE all data on the phone and restore it to factory settings.

So, I ended up calling T-mobile and changed my smart phone unlimited internet service to the G1 data plan. They told me it would take up to 24 hours for the plan to take effect. I checked within 30 minutes and the phone finally was able to activate. My guess is that they run some kind of firewall rule on the smart phone unlimited internet plan that prevents access to the Google activation server.

T-mobile must have made the change last month when they restructured their data plans with text messaging being mandatory. Previously, the unlimited internet for smartphones was $19.95 and had the option of signing up for a text message plan. You now need to sign up for the 400 message ($5 extra, same price as before) or unlimited text plan ($15 extra, reasonably priced for unlimited) On the bright side, I’m glad they added a $10 smart phone data plan for users that don’t need to use internet as much (100 MB bandwidth quota per month) Thats plenty for users who check their Twitter once in a while and check traffic/news.

Gmail themes

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:05:36 +0000

Gmail has added themes! They are starting to send over the themes across all the servers. You can see if you have themes on your account by going to “Settings” and check if you have tab for “Themes”. You may need to change your Gmail settings back to old version, then go back to new again for them to show up. (At least I had to) If so, you should get a message asking you about changing your theme. Right now, I have the pebbles one installed — screenshot below.

Apache configuration for Microsoft Office 2007 files

admin — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:33:28 +0000

If you uploaded some Microsoft Office 2007 files onto your Apache server, you will notice that the files will open up as a zip file from your browser. To fix this, you will need to add the new file extensions to the Apache configuration file so that it will know how to set the correct file type. At first, I tried editing the /etc/mime.types file, but that did not work for me. So, I added the file types into the Apache configuration file and voila — it worked.

In Apache, edit the httpd.conf file. Or, in Apache2 edit the apache2.conf file. Search for the section with the AddType keywords. Make sure you backup the configuration file before making any changes. Add the following lines:

# MIME type fix AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet .xlsx AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document .docx AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow .pptx

Make sure to test the syntax of the configuration file using apache2ctl configtest or apachectl configtest. Then restart the Apache service via apache2ctl restart or apachectl restart.

If you need to support all Microsoft Office 2007 file extensions, please check out this webmasterworld post.

Antec MX-1 External Hard Drive Case

admin — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:25:15 +0000

There is only one downside to digital photography. The reliance of the hard drive. If you lose all your data on the hard drive, there is not a negative or color print to salvage the lost photos on the drive. More megapixels mean more space required for the photos. Thus, its important to have a reliable drive that has lots of space.

I recently purchased the Antec MX-1 case to replace a broken 1 TB external drive. Luckily, the drive broke within the return policy of the store and while I was still verifying the integrity of the drive via a sector test. The problem with external drives theses days is that there are no fans to cool the cases down. This wasn’t so much of an issue with the 250 GB or the 500 GB we had. But with 1 TB drives, they run hot with 5+ platters spinning at 7200 RPM.

I decided to try out the Antec MX-1 due to its reasonable price ($30 when on sale at Frys or Buy.com) and eSATA capability. One of the nice features is that it comes a PCI slot cover that extends the internal eSATA jack to the back of the computer. The case is made of plastic, although in the photos it looks like brushed aluminum. As for the drive, I purchased a Western Digital 1 TB Green Power Drive . The benefit on the drive is that it runs cooler at 5400 RPM and has only 3 platters. I also lower my carbon footprint with its reasonable 6-10 watt usage. There is a slight performance hit at 5400 RPM, but on an external drive its fast enough.

Installation

Installation of the drive on the MX-1 was a bit of a hassle since you needed to take out 5 screws to get the hard drive bracket out. The mounts on the hard drive are made of rubber, so it definitely keeps the noise down on the case. The USB ports and eSATA ports had decent performance and having a power switch on the drive case is a nice touch. Fan noise is fairly quiet, although the one I got was more than 20 dB.

Conclusion

The Antec MX-1 External Hard Drive case is a good value if you want the flexibility of having an actively cooled hard drive with eSATA and USB ports. If you can pick this enclosure up for $30, its a great deal. At $60, it would be a hard decision to make since there are a lot of other alternatives.