Technology - David Mathre Photography

Friday (07-December-2012) — New Jersey

Technology Update: Laptop Hard Drive to SSD Drive Conversion.

For the last week I have been hearing a knocking sound from my travel laptop computer (Lenovo ThinkPad W510). It actually sounds like a car knocking when climbing a hill when using low octane fuel. When I have heard this sound before, it was a precursor to the hard drive failing (often catastrophically). My last backup (disk image) was 2 weeks ago, so the first thing I did was make a new backup. I would love to be able to do incremental backups, however my Lightroom catalogs contain over 500K images. Even though I only keep normal sized preview images in the catalog, it is a lot of small files. Because of the large number of files, backups can take days. My workaround it to make a full disk image backup. This is sector based, not file based and only takes 2-3 hours.

I actually planned to replace this computer with a new Lenovo W520 computer back in August, however Lenovo failed to deliver the computer on time before I left for the Fall 2012 Semester at Sea Voyage. UPS tried to deliver the computer after I left. I ended up having some long phone calls to Lenovo from the ship (at $2.50/minute). The computer was returned, and ultimately I was refunded for the cost of the computer (but not the phone calls). So what to do with the current computer? I decided to try to upgrade the current computer with a new 512 GB solid state (SSD) hard drive, and a second 1 TB hard drive. The second drive would go into an Ultra Drive slot, replacing the CD/DVD drive. This should give the current computer some additional life, and having a primary SSD drive and a second data hard drive some improved performance.

I ordered a new 512 GB Crucial solid state (SSD) hard drive, a 1 TB Seagate hard drive, and an Ultra Bay hard drive caddy via Amazon. I have Amazon Prime, so featured Amazon prime items get free 2-day delivery. I was pleasantly surprised when the two hard drives arrived in less than 24 hours via US Mail (USPS). The Ultra Bay caddy is coming from China, so will take longer.

The Crucial SSD came with Apricorn Data Transfer software and a USB/Hard Drive connector to make an image of my current hard drive on the new SSD hard drive. The process was relatively simple, and after 4 hours I had an identical image of my current hard drive. Tomorrow, I will swap the hard drives and see if the process works.

One thing that I need to worry about is that some software in an “ET calling home mode” compares processor s/n, hard drive s/n, etc to decide if the software is pirated. I have heard of some folks finding out that some of their programs no longer work because the software thinks that it has been illegally copied.

The other thing that I need to check into when I have the computer open is the amount of installed RAM. I purchased this computer with 16 GB of RAM (since I was going to be using Windows 7 Pro 64-bit). I was surprised to see Task Manager only indicating 8 GB installed — Strange. Did some of the memory in the computer go bad, and needs to be replaced?

Laptop Computer Hard Disk Upgrade. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/30 sec) (David J Mathre)

Seven-Years Ago (28-November-2005) — Florida

Florida Road Trip: Amelia Island Lighthouse.

The extended Mathre family was visiting Amelia Island for Thanksgiving, and more importantly to celebrate our parents 50th wedding anniversary. These images are of the Amelia Island Lighthouse taken with a Polaroid DSC-700 digital camera.

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One-Year Ago (23-November-2011) — New Jersey

Black Friday: Nikon 1 V1 Mirrorless Camera.

One year ago (23-November-2011), I got my Nikon 1 V1 camera. My image database indicates that I have taken over 50K pictures with this camera, and this doesn’t count video. Granted, about half of the images were when I used the camera for taking time-lapsed images while driving on a road trip to Florida last year and New Mexico this year. It is a great travel camera being significantly lighter than the DSLR cameras I use. It does have its idiosyncrasies. I don’t like the location of some of the controls/dial, the propensity for the rear mode selection dial to move/change — I have lost images because the camera was not in the right mode (mood???). I did get the adapter to use Nikon F-mount lenses, the GPS adapter, the flash adapter, and the remote adapter. I really would like a wider lens for the camera. The field of view for the 10 mm lens on this camera is equivalent to 27 mm on a FX (35 mm sensor) DSLR. A 6 or 7 mm lens would be nice (16-19 mm equivalent). For wider landscape images, I end up taking multiple images and stitching them together in post processing.

Five-Years Ago (23-November-2007) — Hawaii

Gone to See Hawaii. Big Island Photography Workshop with Thom Hogan. Day 6: Kona.

Five years ago I completed a photography workshop on the Big Island of Hawaii with Thom Hogan. While on the way to the airport to catch our return flights, we stopped at Lighthaus Camera. Coincidentally, it was “Black Friday” and everything was on sale. We noticed that the store just received their initial shipment of the newly released Nikon D300 camera. Three or four of the workshop participants purchased the cameras on the spot. I have to admit that mine was an impulse purchase. Over the next four years, I took nearly 55K images with the camera (2007: 3164 images; 2008: 20371 images; 2009: 29355 images; 2010: 919 images; 2011: 628 images). This was my last Nikon DX sensor camera. Since then all of my Nikon DSLR cameras had full frame FX sensors.

The last shooting location for the workshop on that day was at Hawaii Tropical Gardens. I reprocessed an image Onomea Water Falls using Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Onomea Water Falls, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 105 mm f/2.8 macro (ISO 100, f/11, 1/1.6 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro 6, PhotoShop CS5, and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. (David J. Mathre)

Monday (19-November-2012) — New Jersey

Photography: Working on 10,000 hours to become an expert.

In 2006 on my “Gone to See America” road trip I took my first DSLR (a Nikon D200, recommended by my brother Erik). I got the camera a few days before the trip, and by the end of the trip knew that there was a lot I needed to learn. One of the resources I found on the Internet was Thom Hogan and his Nikon Camera Guides. His D200 Guide really helped me get my head around all of the options, features, and controls on the camera — much more than the Nikon supplied manual. The following year while working part-time in Boulder I saw that Thom had a late opening for his Hawaii workshop. I signed up right away. By the end of the workshop, I was hooked on digital photography. I not only learned a lot, but realized that I needed to practice every day in order to get better. This goes along with my belief that you always need to take on new challenges and learn something new. Thom and others have commented that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at a subject. I am still working on those 10,000 hours.