David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Views of science and technology from around the world
Remote Camera Control Test: Troll Family
I periodically use the Nikon Camera Control Pro program to remotely control cameras. This was the first time I used to the program to control a Nikon Df camera. Three images of the Troll Family changing the aperture and shutter speed.
I have been doing my laundry elsewhere for some time. Both the washing machine and dryer have not been working. While trying to fix the dryer, I pulled an amazing amount of lint out from around the drum. Fortunately, it never caught fire. Both units are at least 25 years old, so I decided it was time for an upgrade. While in Norway earlier in the year I saw a washing machine & dryer combo that used a lot less water, and did not require an external vent. After some searching I found a direct drive combo from LG. The new unit gets delivered tomorrow, so I need to disconnect and remove the old appliances.
Both Phase One and DxO have released new versions of their RAW digital image processing software (DxO Optics Pro 8, and Capture One Pro 7). The following image of a horse in an open-air horse trailer outside of Taos, New Mexico was taken from within a van during ANPAT 12. The image was processed as follows: 1) The imbedded jpg image extracted using Color Bits “Photo Mechanic”; The RAW image converted to jpg using Nikon View NX2; 3) The RAW image processed with Nikon Capture NX2; 4) The RAW image processed with Adobe Lightroom 4 (using the Adobe RAW engine); 5) The RAW image processed with Phase One Capture One Pro 7; and 6) The RAW image processed with DxO Optics Pro 8. There is a tint in the window of the van, so adjusting the white balance is tricky. Some of the RAW processors do better than others adjusting and correcting the white balance. Most RAW image processors have the ability to correct for lens distortion. DxO Optics Pro 8 has the largest collection of profiles for lens distortion correction. Capture One Pro 7 only has lens correction profiles for a few (high end/Pro) lenses, and did not have the profile for the camera/lens used for this image.
Let me know which version you like or dislike (either reply to the blog post or e-mail).
While traveling, I have been testing different camera gear. In part to see if I can get high quality images with new lighter weight travel kits. The Nikon 1 V1 camera with the 30-110 mm VR lens (10 MP) is much lighter than the Nikon D800 and 50 mm f/1.4G lens. I took ten vertical images of Stonehenge with the N1V1 at 110 mm and combined them using the Photoshop CS6 panorama feature. The ultimate image ended up being 16850 x 5400 pixels. I spent some time using “content aware” to remove the people in the image. The other image is cropped from a single image taken with the D800 and 50 mm f/1.4 lens. In this case, I didn’t take the time to remove the tourists from image. Let me know which you think is best, but I am afraid that I will continue to carry a heavier kit.
After staying the at the Princeton Marriott Residence Inn, I went home and found the power had been restored. Checked the refrigerator, and everything seemed to be OK. Did take some time to reboot the computers and storage disk arrays. While waiting, I dropped off my car for regular service before a trip out west. I also wanted them to check out why my radio and GPS were only working intermittently. When I got home the computers were all running – but did need to run several hours of checking to make sure that the last backups were good. Later in the afternoon I got a call from the Land Rover service department. The problem with the radio and GPS center console was the Bluetooth transmitter (needed for hands free phone). It will only cost $1K to replace. A Bluetooth transmitter that costs $1K??? And if I don’t get it fixed the center console (radio, CD, GPS) don’t work. ARRG!!!
So back to the networking issue with my W700ds computer. I waited until one of the backups was repeated (took overnight). I loaded the PC recovery CD that came with the HP MediaServer (MS Home Server) into the computer, and rebooted. During the reboot, needed to hit the ThinkVantage (blue) button so I could configure the BIOS to boot from the CD/DVD drive. The computer then booted to the CD recovery disk. Unfortunately, it did not recognize the network to the HP MediaServer, and asked for a driver for the network to be loaded via a USB port. I went online with another computer and downloaded the network driver for the computer (both the 64 bit and 32 bit versions) from the Lenovo site and put them onto a USB drive. Moved the USB drive to the computer, but it still didn’t work. If all else fails, read the help. It told me that when the HP MediaServer makes a computer backup that it also copies the drivers that will be needed to restore the computer. All I needed to do was copy that folder onto a USB drive. Since the only computer that I currently have configured to work with the HP MediaServer is the one in question – I needed to reboot and remotely connect to the HP MediaServer. This time when I rebooted, my wireless network started working again. I still want to go through the recover/restore process just to confirm to myself that it does work (and that I have everything I need including the drivers on a USB drive).
The Land Rover folks called back and said that there were still problems with the new Bluetooth transmitter. Possibly a loose connection or shorted wire that they need to track down. So I keep the loaner vehicle over the Labor Day weekend. Too bad that I am not a bit further north as there may be some good aurora displays this weekend.