The last time that I bought a new computer, was back in late 2003, just before my daughter was born.
I remember say to my wife at the time, I had to purchase the computer because there was no telling the next time that I would be able to purchase a new one.
This time, instead of paying extra for a mainstream computer, I decided to go to a local computer builder, and have a custom unit built for me.
I ended up with a Pentium 4 on an Intel motherboard, 4GBs RAM and a 100GB HD for around $1000.
At the time, it was a very speedy machine, but after many years of service, and countless upgrades, the machine started to show its age when trying to run Windows XP, Office 2007 and Photoshop CS3.
So the hunt started for an upgrade, and I was able to finally scavenge a base Intel Core 2 6400 box, which I am still using to write this entry.
My biggest issue with this current machine, is that I am running into some compatibility issues with Camera Raw 7 after upgrading to Lightroom 5 and trying to move files into Photoshop CS5.
There is also the occasion, when working on larger 1+GB TIFF/PSD files, I simply run out of memory.
Then, about 2 weeks ago, after a tough budget negotiation, I was given the green light for a new machine!
Yeah!
Now the question was what to get!
I knew what I wanted a machine that could run Photoshop & Lightroom as the main applications, which meant as much CPU and RAM that I could get!
Like any computer geek, I fantasy configured systems on the major computer websites, and knew that they were way overpriced for what I wanted.
I wanted a custom-built machine, but how? Another Local vendor? or via the Internet…
Or myself, which I had never done before, even though I have fixed hundred of computers over the years!
I started to look at several ‘You Built It’ websites to get a very rough idea of price and configuration, and was quickly overwhelmed with the various configuration options!
Even for a seasoned computer person, the various chip sets and sockets available made my head spin! I spent countless hours reading the forums on Tom’s Hardware so that I could make as intelligent decisions as possible!
At some point, I came to the realization, that I was going to be building this machine myself, and I started to venture into YouTube land to learn more about the basics of my new DYI project.
Finally, after many hours of research and internal debate, I finally placed my order:
Back in March, Madison brought home an announcement about the Brandywine Valley Association doing their “Red Stream Blue” program for the fourth-graders at her school, and they were looking for some parents to volunteer their time for the day.
If you have been following my photographic work at all, you’ll know that I have preference for running water, and I have been to a variety of places in Chester County, so this seemed like a fun opportunity to get to know the local environment a little bit more.
At 9 am on April 3rd, we gathered in the faculty lounge at Uwchlan Hills Elementary School for the morning training session.
We had a delightful instructor by the name of Connie Shapiro, who walked us through the eight stations that we would be presenting to the children later in the day.
During the program, parents and students are taught about the cycle of water as it falls from the sky, lands on our roofs, lawns, driveways and street, then is channeled into gutters or streams, and into the creeks, through water treatment plants in local townships, and finally into the Atlantic Ocean.
Connie cheerfully explained each stage of the water cycle, and answered questions as we prepared for the afternoon presentations.
After the initial morning training, we then got to choose which stations we wish to work at, and I selected Station 4 Macro-invertebrate Mayhem!
This was the station with all the bugs or should I say larvae, nymphs, snails and worms.
The good stuff!
After lunch, we set up the eight stations in the fourth grade pod, and fine tuned what we were going to say when the kids during our 10-12 minute presentations.
To say I was nervous was an understatement, and thankfully I was joined by Eileen Hazard from the Brandywine Valley Association (BVA), as she brought in another bucket full of critters she had collected on her way to the school!
Finally it was time to begin.
In the main meeting area, with all the teachers, students, volunteers and BVA folks, Connie started in, and captured the interest of a room full of fourth graders quickly. Robert Struble, Jr. gave a short little introduction to the program, just before Principle Giering was partially mummified to illustrate how much water our bodies contain.
At the conclusion, Eileen and I rushed back to our station, and made the final preparations.
I asked Eileen, if she could please demonstrate first, because I was not sure what to say in such a limited amount of time. Each group was with us for only about 10-12 min, and there was a fair amount of information to cover in during such a limited amount of time.
When it became my time to demonstrate, I was glad that I was sitting at a table. The table hid my rapidly twitching legs, as they moved up and down like pistons in a car.
I was surrounded by a group of fourth graders, and if you have not done this in a while, it can be very intimidating.
Thankfully I recognized a few faces, or in other cases they recognized me, which helped ease my nerves as I began to speak.
When the second group arrived, my daughter, Madison, came running up, and give me a big hug and kiss just before my demonstration. Some needed reassurance for me.
It was delightful to see the children so happy and inquisitive, and I was very surprised with the lack of screaming, as many of these kids were being introduced to these ugly critters for the first time!
During the two hours of the program, we did eight presentations, for nearly 100 children, as they rotated from one station to another.
There was a final group wrap-up meeting, and we broke for the day.
If you happen to have the time, and chance, I strongly recommend that you volunteer in this program.
There is no doubt that during the course of the day, you will learn something about the streams, creeks and rivers within the Brandywine Valley and how integral they are in our local environment.
You will also get to work with some wonderful parents, neighbors and BVA Staff, and if nothing else, you do get a chance to work with children, and maybe spark some sort of curiosity into science!
At the time, I got to work with many different setups, and knew what I wanted, but just could not justify the costs. I did know, that what every tripod I bought, I wanted it to last.
And my Bogen has lasted.
So far, the ONLY thing that has broken on it, is the stitching on one of the loops for the carrying strap!
It “broke” on me while out on a nature walk, and I just took the remaining strap, and tied a half-hitch back on the D-ring, and have been using it ever since, well over a year ago.
Easily, my Bogen is one of the best purchases in my life!
My Bogen was also there when I took the winning photograph.
After a few coordinating emails between LandscapePhotographyMagazine.com, Manfrotto and I, the box arrived late last Friday afternoon.
I was very surprised to have it arrive so quickly, and very eager to see what 30 years tripods was like!
Raising the Legs
At first, I was concerned because there was only one box.
I was expecting two, tripod and head, but was pleased to find the head included in the main box.
Silly me.
When I removed the tripod from the box, it did “feel” lighter then my Bogen, but the head was still not on.
The next thing I did, was to extend the legs, and as I did, they seemed smoother and quieter then my Bogen, but this could that be due to age, or is it, aluminium vs. carbon fiber?
Time will tell.
Opening the small box with the ball-head, was very exciting for me, because I always wanted one, and now I had one!
There had been numerous times, over the years, where the three twisting arms of my Bogen head, made it much more difficult to setup for a shot, whereas a ball head was going to be a joy!
Or so I thought…
In the Studio
When I first heard that I had won, I looked into accessories for the Manfrotto, namely a carrying strap, and for the first time, a quick release system – another little item that I always wanted…
Finding, Ordering and Receiving these two items took considerably much longer then expected, and is still needing to be resolved, as I ponder the subject for a new post.
While waiting for the tripod accessories, I decided to try the tripod in my little studio doing some shots that I had been contemplating for some time now.
In setting up given shots, it was funny to note my ingrained movements towards the knobs of my old tripod as I made final adjustments.
For all intensive purposes, I went from three knobs, down to one.
It just felt weird!
During the course of the day, I managed to set up and photograph, several scenes with the new ball head, and finally into Lightroom for basic review.
It was in Lightroom, where I began to notice subtle shifts in my bracketed exposure sequences due to movement between exposures.
When taking an exposure, I normally use the cameras onboard interface, to change the settings, then use my remote trigger for the actual exposure.
This is of importance to me, since I do a lot of HDR work, and it is critical for the various exposures to be aligned.
With my Bogen, these physical exposure adjustments on the camera, were not nearly as bad as what I was witnessing with the new Manfrotto.
At the moment, I’m just going to make myself mentally aware of being more careful when making the adjustments, or rely on AEB more often.
Going for my first walk
Finally, I got the tripod strap and quick release systems!
I was rather impressed when I first opened up the tripod strap. There is a rather large padded sleeve that fits over the actual strap, and I could easily see where this might be very comfortable after a long day of carrying the tripod. I also like the idea of having a quick release on the strap where one would connect it to the three legs.
I also installed the quick release system on the tripod and camera, and smacked my head on why I had not bought one of these before, but at the same time, knowing that I just had had movement issues in the studio, I also now had to consider this.
Be that as it may, I went off for a walk to test my new toys in the field!
Generally, when I start one of my walks, I have not attached the camera to the tripod yet, and swing both of them over my left shoulder, and start on, allowing me to freehold the camera if I see something of interest.
As I walked, the first thing that I noticed, was how completely different this tripod felt on my shoulder.
Gone was the feeling of the knob arms hitting you like blunted porcupine quills as you walked and moved through the woods, but at the same time, I still need to figure out the best way to attach the strap and cushioned padding.
It feels weird, but once again, time will tell.
Conclusion
Once again, I want to thank both LandscapePhotographyMagazine.com and Manfrotto for this opportunity, and I look forward to years of great use!
That being said, it is far too early to make a definitive conclusion about the two tripods.
Manfrotto does feel lighter in weight, but I have NOT actually done a side-by-side, and the carrying strap needs some fine tuning in the field.
I am looking forward to using the ball-head more, and I should be able to adapt to the minor adjustments issues, by tightening the one knob more. (I do have a zoom lens that I worried about…)
Right now I’m still in the honeymoon stage with my Manfrotto, and with any good marriage it takes time… 30+ years is hard to break.
But some questions linger… Am I cheating on my Bogen?
Will Bogen get relegated to the studio, while Manfrotto journeys forth?
It is another rainy day here in Chester County, so I decided to catch-up on an old mental project – Start to photograph my photography collect (cameras, trays, etc.).
Why not, I have been working on getting the studio back in order, so…
Canon Canonet (circa 1961)
Canon F1
Canon A70
Kodak DC50
Yashica 635
as you can see, I have used a few different ones over the years!
Now all I have to do, is add some story text to each camera…
Over the past several months, I have been watching several of my Facebook contacts using Pixoto, and during that time, I would check out the site every now and then, but stopped short of signing up.
Until a couple of days ago…
What is Pixoto?
It is an online Photography competition site, at has recently added other graphic arts formats to the array of seemingly endless images, all vying for Top honors and the potential of money.
How does Pixoto work?
Basically, one uploads their images, with at least a 900px long side, no water-markings to their account.
From there, one selects from several main Categories (Abstract, Animals, Babies, People, etc.) and sub-categories, adding a Title and some keywords that best fit and describe the image.
Once submitted, your image is now in one of several competitions within the Category for Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly recognition(s).
“Playing” Pixoto
This is the easy, fun and potentially beautiful part of “playing” Pixoto!
Clicking on the “Vote” button in the top menu, sets up the ImageDual™ environment, where two images are sent to the screen, and you click on the one you like more.
Two competing images continue to pop-up on-screen until you decide you are done, and by selecting images in the shoot-out, you are also collecting 1 Credit that can be used later for submitting more images, or giving them a “boost”.
One can spend hours in front of the computer screen with the television or something else is going on in the background.
Not all the images are great, but that is the point, to select or weed out that do not reach the mark, for what ever reason.
Your Submissions
Within seconds, you will see feedback on how your image is doing, based on a ‘secret’ formula for scoring.
The algorithm apparently factors in the Win/Lose ratio and the ranking of competing image, to come up with the scoring.
It is not uncommon to see an image rise quickly, and then level off as its ‘final’ ranking is being solidified over the course of time.
The course of time
If an images starts to reach various percentage levels (Top 1%/5%/10%, etc.) during the course of time (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly) additional points will be awarded, and if your image can get to the top, there is the possibility of earning money.
Comparisons
Flickr – Flickr is by far the bigger of the two sites, and has many more competitions, but that is also a big distraction for some. It can be complicated, take a long time to figure out and to compete in various contests. Pixoto is far simpler!
Paid vs Free – Like most sites these days, there are two versions, and a side-by-side comparison can be found on the website, but for me, at least at the moment, I can not justify the expense see so few benefits in my case.
Selling Stock Images – This is a new feature on Pixoto, and sounds very interesting. On the surface, I like the idea of the higher payout compared to some of the other micro-stock sites I belong to, but I have not tried it yet.
Alerts
If you do move forward and get yourself an account, here are some things that I have already run into:
Watermarks– I am of the school of putting a watermark on all my images, if nothing more as a form of advertising and some copyright protection.
On Pixoto, images are displayed in competition without watermarks, but are shown with the sites default user copyright on your page/gallery, and are some what protected via simple right-click efforts.
Why? – In competition Pixoto is trying to reduce any bias during the ImageDual™, which is easily understandable, and they do take it seriously.
I accidentally uploaded a few files with my watermark, and they were reported.
I did receive a nice, informative Notification from Pixoto that my images had been removed, but it did cost me my ‘earned’ ImageDual™ points, and additional Credits to up load them again.
Upload Issue – I have, on several occasions, tried to upload an image, only to find ‘scan line’ errors on the thumbnails and larger images.
My work around, has been to delete the image quickly, because you do not want to lose points, delete my browser cache (Firefox), and then try again.
So far, this seems to work, but it is a time killer.
It is very easy to connect to Pixoto via Facebook or Twitter, even though I dislike using those services to link to accounts, but that adds to the simpleness of using the site.
I have also been very interested seeing how my Top images on Flickr are doing on Pixoto, which is helping me to better select images for promotion on my main website, but at the moment, Flickr edges Pixoto in easy of direct feedback on an image.
I do like the idea of being able to sell stock images from Pixoto, but I have not had a chance to test this feature yet, but I do plan to!
With all the above being said, I would recommend using Pixoto to increase your exposure to a larger audience, while fine-tuning your portfolio, and maybe making some money!
