In spite of what the CNET editors say about the upcoming Olympus Evolt E-330, I do not see the value in having an LCD preview on a dSLR. If you are not going to look through the lens of your camera, then why spend $1,000 when you can pay half as much for an ultra-zoom digicam?

I won another See It Sunday contest (heights). This time there were more than two entries.

While I hope that the competition continues to grow, I think that the limited posting time will make it more managable and interesting over time. Does anyone ever actually look at every one of the 600+ photos posted to Photo Friday?

With See It Sunday you have just enough time to view the upcoming theme. Then you must post your photo on Sunday. I think that all of the other contests have submission periods that are too long.

Here it is after midnight on 1/28 and I just posted the photo for 1/26. I am remiss for not posting! It started out only as a day behind, but then last night I got hit with a comment spam attack. The purpose was to highlight the vulnerability of PixelPost and light a fire under the developers’ collective butts. Read about it on the PixelPost Forum.

As annoying as it was the attack seems to have worked. Not only are patches being posted, but this evening I upgraded to PixelPost v1.5beta. Unfortunately, my selective background hack has to be recreated. For the time being all of my image backgrounds will be white.

Hopefully by end of day tomorrow I will have the 1/27 and the 1/28 photo up…

I just heard about this via a CNET alert.

Last week was a sad time in the camera world: Konica Minolta announced that it’s bowing out. By 2007, KM will be ending production of all of its digital and film cameras and photofinishing products. Konica Minolta will still be in business on the electronics side of digital photography and is working with Sony toward producing a Sony-branded digital SLR camera.

It is tough to compete with the big boys–Canon and Nikon–but at the same time I find this sort of strange. At the same time KM is leaving the market, Samsung is rebranding the Pentax *ist DS and Panasonic is collaborating with Olympus to put out a DSLR.

While Sony will take over the line (which will continue lens support for the KM mount), I cannot help but think that they will screw up what is a fine camera. First off it will have a Memory Stick slot instead of a CF slot. Second, it will have really beautiful buttons that are hard to press and not at all intuitive. Third, it will have a huge LCD screen that will suck the battery life right out of the camera.

I so need to find an affordable way to calibrate my monitor to my inkjet photo printer. I have not yet wasted money printing anything at a photo lab, but yesterday I tried to print this photo of my kids and it came out so yellow it looked like Isabel had jaundice.

Thanks to some Christmas refund money from some ill-fitting clothing, I was able to order a replacement for my lost remote and a new lens (Canon 28mm f/2.8). It took over a week for B&H Photo to process my order because of an address mix-up with my credit card. The package should get here sometime early next week and hopefully by then my server woes will be taken care of and I can post some photos taken with the new lens.

Last night around 9:00 PM I went out along the Biloxi Bay with my Canon Rebel XT and tripod. My goal was to shoot the Imperial Palace Casino from across the water. I took a few shots from the shoreline before moving down to a pier. I think I was in a hurry because of some cool clouds that were moving in. I failed to pocket my RC1 wireless remote. The consequence was that as I set up my tripod I dropped the remote.

Bounce, bounce, bounce…kerplunk. It fell into about three feet of murky water. I love that little remote as it offers some flexibility over a wired remote. However, my one criticism is that it lacks a lanyard loop.

For the rest of the evening I was limited to 30 second exposures and playing around with the ISO and other settings. I think I still got some nice shots, but I will not know for sure until I get a look at the RAW files. I still want to go down on the beach and shoot places like the still destroyed Treasure Bay Casino and some of the piers, but there is not enough light down there to shoot on Aperature Priority. Maybe I can get some sunset shots, though?

For Christmas I received a Canon BG-E3 Battery Grip for my Digital Rebel XT. It holds six AA batteries or two NB-2LH lithium ion batteries (a single NB-2LH powers the camera normally). I also received a second of these batteries, so I will be using the latter option unless I am in a pinch for power. I have only shot a little bit with the battery grip on, but already I think it is going to be on there most of the time. I love how it seems to stabilize and make it easier to level the camera during handheld shooting.

I entered the inaugural contest for a new photo site called See It Sunday. I was only one of two people who entered, so the odds were even (so it’s not like I’m some awesome photog). The theme was Sunday. I would like to see the contest grow, but not as big as Photo Friday (too many entries to sift through). If I ever started my own photo contest site, I would place a limit on the number of entries. I would also require a short description by the artist explaining why the photo fit the theme.

I am anxious to upgrade the 18-55mm kit lens that came with my Digital Rebel XT with some serious glass. I feel that sharpness is a key feature that I am currently lacking in the kit lens. I am forever using Unsharp Mask in Photoshop to crispen my photos. I also want something with telephoto range, as there have been several situations were I could have used one.

While I was initially eying a zoom telephoto lens like the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, I think that my needs would be better served by getting one of the Sigma or Tamron 18-200mm lenses instead. I could use it as a travel or all purpose walk about lens. It would have come in handy on my recent trip to St. Louis where I would have liked a little more DOF on some shots. The prices are also half that of the Canon, though they lack the image stabilization features.

Another lens that I am considering is a 28mm prime lens. With the crop factor of my XT, it would be the equivalent of a 50mm lens on a film camera. If you take cost out of the equation, then it becomes hard to decide between the Canon 28mm f/2.8 ($169) and the Canon 28mm f/1.8 ($399). The former is considered to be an extremely sharp lens, but the latter is an exellent performer in low light indoor situations.

I could almost go with both, as some in this forum thread suggest. Then there is a Sigma 28mm f/1.8 that splits the cost at $249, but the reviews that I have read so far have not been as favorable. I could probably not go wrong with either Canon lens, but I suppose it will have to come down to the budget and primary purpose for the lens. Do I want it more for outdoor day shots, or will it be used primarily for indoor photos of the kids and possibly nighttime landscapes?