Verizon Wireless MiFi 2200

April 23, 2010

After waiting and waiting in vain for AT&T to allow iPhone tethering to a computer I finally broke down last month and ordered a Verizon Mobile Broadband card. I ended up getting the Mobile Hotspot MiFi 2200 and I love it.

The MiFi 2200 is tiny, weighing just over 2 ounces and featuring a user replaceable lithium-ion battery that is supposed to get about 4 hours of life. What really separates this card is what it does. When not plugged in directly to a computer, the MiFi 2200 – once connected to the Verizon network – creates a mobile wifi hotspot that can connect up to 5 wifi devices at once.

Other broadband cards need to be plugged into the computer directly via a USB port – something that devices such as the iPhone do not have. With the MiFi 2200 I can have my desktop, laptop, and iPhone all connected to the internet at once, and still have room for 2 other friends’ devices. It also makes a great alternative for the 3G iPad by not having to sign up for AT&T’s data plan for it.

Connecting to the Verizon network takes about 20 seconds. A light on the front indicates connection and whether data is transferring or not. Security is what you would expect from most wireless modems including WEP, WPA, WPA2, and MAC and Port filtering.

The MiFi 2200 can also be plugged into a computer directly via a USB port. When attached as such, wifi is disabled. The battery charges via USB or by the included wall adapter.

What’s not to like about the MiFi 2200? My only gripe is with Verizon’s mobile broadband plans. For $60 a month, you are limited to only 5GB of data transfer each month, and I do not see an option for an unlimited data plan. While 5GB a month is sufficient for many web tasks such as email and web browsing, one can burn through the monthly limit very easily by watching online video or uploading many high-resolution photos or visiting high data websites like weathertap.com

The MiFi 2200 comes with VZAccess Manager software that is used when it is connected via USB. The software, pictured below, helps you monitor current data use. When connected via wifi, VZAccess Manager does not monitor current data use, but you can use your web browser to view current data use in the same area as security settings. By checking your profile on verizonwireless.com you can see total data use up to 1 day or so.

VZAccess Manager software on a Mac

Note: if you have a Mac computer, don’t install the included software for VZAccess Manager. Instead go to http://vzam.net/ to download the latest version.

Despite the monthly data limit, in just a little less than a month I have found the MiFi 2200 to be an irreplaceable tool for me and I highly recommend it.

I have had a web presence for over 10 years now and I have always added a © watermark to all of my photos that I have uploaded online. Adding a copyright (©) watermark is necessary for me as I have made a living from my photography for over 19 years now. I am in the business of selling photos – not giving them away. Adding a © watermark to my online photos helps to protect the unauthorized use of my work in that it sends a message that the photo is copyrighted and not available for free use.

Up until now the only way I could add a © watermark to photos I wanted to post online from my iPhone camera was to download the photo to my laptop or desktop, add the watermark in Photoshop, then upload to the internet or back to my iPhone to then post online. Quite cumbersome especially considering how easy it is to post photos from the iPhone direct to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, blogs and other locations with the press of a few buttons. Convenience forced me to upload many non-watermarked photos to places such as twitpic, yfrog, etc.

Frustrated, the other day I posted a question to my Twitter followers asking if anyone knew of an app for the iPhone that “can add a user defined © watermark to a #photo – preferably to a copy of a photo”. Two minutes later @SuperFarm tweeted me info on an application called PhotoMarkr. It was exactly what I was looking for.

Using PhotoMarkr is extremely simple. You can either add your own © text in the application itself, or import a graphic that you previously created into the program. Simply create your watermark in Photoshop on a black background and save the flattened image as a jpg. Upload to your iPhone using iPhoto/iTunes or just email the photo to your iPhone. You can save as many © watermarks as you want in the Photo Albums section of your iPhone and change them as often as you want in PhotoMarkr.

The settings page in PhotoMarkr

Once your setting preferences are finished tap done. You are then returned to the main application page. What’s nice is that your settings are saved and each time you re-launch the app your previously used setting is applied.

Main application page.

The main application page is displayed above. Tapping the 5 icons, from left to right, will do the following: a) open up your photo library on the iPhone to select an already taken photo, b) turn on the camera to immediately take a photo, c) save a watermarked copy of your photo, d) turn off the watermark, e) open the settings page. It is worth mentioning again that by saving a watermarked photo, you are saving a copy of the original photo – your original photo remains untouched and you end up with a watermarked copy.

Change opacity, twist and turn your watermark.

As seen above, you have full control over the opacity – or transparency – of your watermark. By pinching the screen with your fingers you can change the size and even rotate your watermark. Simple, quick, intuitive and effective. Your saved watermark photo will appear in your camera roll ready for uploading online.

PhotoMarkr sells in the app store for just $2.99. It is worth every penny. Very simple and fast to use, it does just what it is supposed to do and I highly recommend it.

While I was photographing in Colorado last month I came across an iPhone app from bjango called Darkness. I heard someone recommend it in a twitter stream, mentioning that it is a great app for sunrise and sunset times. After taking a quick look at it in the iTunes store I immediately purchased it. Darkness does much more than provide sunrise and sunset times. In fact, Darkness is absolutely a must-have iPhone app for photographers.

The main application screen for Darkness

For starters Darkness is a world clock. It has a database of over 20,000 cities worldwide. Custom cities can also be added. Darkness also uses your iPhone’s GPS to provide you with information based on your exact location. You add cities to the application’s main screen by clicking on the plus sign at the bottom and searching for your city. You can also add as many cities as you wish.

The main screen not only shows you the time and date of your current location and favorite locations, but it also gives you a graphical representation of how much sunlight is left (just to left of time), as well as sunrise and sunset times and the current moon phase.

If this was it to the application I probably wouldn’t have gotten it. Knowing the sunrise and sunset times when out photographing is extremely important to me – but one can get that info for free from Weather Channel’s app. What really sealed the deal for me, making this a must-have, is the detailed info it provides as seen in the next screenshot.

A wealth of important information for photographers.

Lets say you’ve arrived at a new location to photograph early in the day and you are looking for a great composition for a sunset photo. You know what time sunset is at, but you are not quite sure exactly where the sun will be setting. Knowing where that sun will set can be important information wether you are a landscape, nature, wedding, portrait or commercial photographer.

By simply tapping on your current location on the main page you are taken to a detail page that not only shows you the sunrise and sunset times, but also the aziumth (the azimuth refers to the angle between due north and the point on the horizon the sun is currently over). Using either a compass or the built-in compass on the iPhone 3Gs you are able to now know just where that sun will set (or rise). The aziumth is also included for the moon as well.

When still viewing this detail page, holding the iPhone in landscape mode will provide you with a globe view of the current sunlight and darkness of the entire planet.

The application also provides you with the current azimuth and altitude of the sun as well as “noon”. Solor noon, as defined by Wikipedia, is the moment when the sun appears the highest in the sky (nearest zenith) compared to its positions during the rest of the year. Think of the noon time Darkness provides as the time of day with the least amount of shadows.

Civil, nautical and astronomical twilight times are also provided.

Moon details page

Tapping on the moon info from the main page will bring up the moon details page. Here you are presented with a graphical representation of the current moon phase as well as it’s azimuth and altitude, age, illumination and distance. Also viewable is when the next phases of the moon will occur.

Wondering where in the sky  the moon was 3 years ago that gave you that great light during your nighttime photo shoot, or when and where the sunrise will be during that upcoming photo trip next year? Simply tap on the calendar icon in the upper right hand corner of the application and set the time to any date you wish to view the solar and lunar information on that date.

I have found this application to be an invaluable tool on my iPhone. Not only has it helped me during photo shoots, but at art festivals as well. As many readers know I sell my artwork at fine art festivals throughout the Southwest. Since installing this application I have used it at my art festivals while setting up my tent. By knowing were the sun is traveling throughout the day I can plan in advance how much sunlight will hit my booth. Knowing this plays a direct factor in how I set up my booth, be it extra awnings to protect from the sunlight, or a different setup to let more light in from not having the direct sunlight. I have setup my booth in complete darkness at night knowing exactly where the sun would be the following day.

Darkness is visually pleasing, quick and responsive, and easy to use. Like I said before, it is a must-have iPhone application for any photographer whose spends part or all of their working day outside. Darkness costs just $1.99 from the iTunes store (and is currently at the time of this writing on sale for $0.99).

This is an ongoing review of the new Canon 5D Mark II digital camera.

Article by Matt Suess

December 24, 2008

I received my Canon 5D Mark II two days ago. A 21 megapixel DSLR, this camera will be replacing my nearly 13 MB Canon 5D camera that has been my main camera for over 3 years now. The 5DII has been getting great reviews on its high resolution and low noise – two areas of particular interest to me. If you are unfamiliar with my work, I love to print big – I sell many fine art pieces in the 6 to 10 foot range, so the more megapixels the better. I am anticipating even larger pieces now with the new 5DII.

I had been on a wait list with my camera dealer since the camera was first announced. I was initially hesitant to take delivery of one after hearing about a quality issue with the images – notably a “black spot” problem that was causing black spots to appear along the right side of point light sources. Once Canon finally acknowledged a few days ago that there is a problem and that they are working on a solution by providing correction firmware I decided it was safe enough to receive the camera. I plan on testing to see if my camera has the “black dot” problem (I am sure it does) and will re-test when Canon comes up with a solution.

When I opened up the box late Monday night my wife Marci and I immediately started comparing the physical characteristics of the 5DII with my original 5D. Some refinements I liked a lot, and some I didn’t. I will end up doing a comparison between the two in the near future so keep on checking back to this diary. But first let us just get started with the image quality.

The light was fairly nice yesterday so I took the 5DII with my usual gear (tripod, cable release, ND filters) along a short hike near my home. The images you see below have all been processed from a RAW file using Lightroom v2.2. These are not “straight from the camera” samples, rather they have been (quickly) fully processed in LR just like I would process any RAW file – adjustments made to exposure, contrast, saturation, sharpening, and more. Like I did in my G10 diary, I am not really interested in seeing the images straight from the camera. I am ultimately interested in how they shape up after processing. My normal workflow also contains further processing in Photoshop – but the photos shown below have only received the LR treatment.

On to the photos:

Below is one of the first photos taken with the 5DII – my very first photo was of my wife and puppy – isn’t that the case with every photographer
It was photographed in RAW at ISO 100, at 1/50th at f16 using my 24-70mm f2.8L lens, tripod mounted with cable release, and the use of an ND filter for the sky. The photo was cropped slightly to fix a crooked horizon (I always change out the focusing screen of any camera I buy with a grid screen to help keep horizons level – everyone currently has the grid screen for the 5DII out of stock – and the screen from the 5D is not compatible). You can see in the two 100% crops the great detail and smooth diagonal lines in the branches. Quite an impressive first photo.

100% crop taken from the above image

100% crop taken from the above image

In this second photo (below) I was marveling at the detail when looking at a zoomed-in area in Lightroom when I noticed something that blew me away – the photo was taken at ISO 1250!! Wow!! What a surprise. I knew when I photographed it that I had jumped up the ISO, but forgot and didn’t see a difference when I started looking at this series of images. ISO 1250!! I don’t recall using my original 5D at anything much higher than ISO 400. You can see for yourself how impressive this ISO range is in the 100% crop. While I did add sharpening in LR I did not adjust any noise reduction settings. The image was photographed handheld at 1/250s at f10 using my 24-70mm f2.8L lens.

100% crop of above photo taken just to right of center. No sharpening has been applied outside of what I did in LR, and no noise reduction was preformed on this ISO 1250 image.

Results so far (not even 100 images shot yet) seem very promising – a nice upgrade from my original 5D. In my next report I will talk about some cosmetic differences between the 5D and the 5DII and I will also soon investigate the “black spot” problem.

This is an ongoing review of the new Canon PowerShot G10 digital camera.

Article by Matt Suess

December 3, 2008

I took delivery of a Canon PowerShot G10 point and shoot 14.7 megapixel digital camera today. It was not offered to me for review – rather I ended up purchasing one following some glowing reviews for the G10 that have already begun to surface online. The initial reviews have been so good that it is my hope that the G10 can be a modest back-up camera to my main camera – currently the Canon 5D – on my hiking and camping trips. When hiking and backpacking, every ounce of weight counts and I would much rather carry a small point & shoot than an extra (and much heavier) dSLR body.

I have not owned a point & shoot digital camera for a number of years, using my Canon 20D or even my iPhone for family snapshots and such. But carrying the 20D around on family outings was never a fun scenario for my wife Marci and I due to its size, and the iPhone camera – while great because I always have it with me – leaves a little to be desired in the megapixel count (it’s only a 2 megapixel camera), as well as offering no flash or zoom. So suffice it to say that I have been in the market for a decent point and shoot for some time.

I was intrigued with the G10 based on some eye-opening specs: 14.7 megapixels (my main camera as of the time of this writing, the Canon 5D, only has 12.7 megapixels), can shoot RAW, ability to record video, manual control, 3 inch LCD screen, etc. I won’t get into all of its features in this diary as there are a number of reviews out there that talk about each and every feature. All I really care about is the quality of all of those pixels and whether it is good enough to be used for an occasional fine art print.

A side note on image quality – this camera has already been receiving rave reviews for its image detail and low noise (using low ISO settings). In fact one reviewer has found that when printing up to 13”x19” the G10 can hold its own against prints from a medium format digital camera. That is pretty impressive. I don’t have a medium format digital camera to compare image quality to, but I do have a Canon 5D and will compare images taken from both cameras at a later time (as of this writing, Lightroom does not support the RAW images from the G10 – once it does I will do my comparison of the G10 vs. the 5D).

First impressions

Wow this camera is small. Others have said it is one of the largest point and shoot cameras out there – but for me, who hasn’t owned one in years and in that time have only owned dSLR’s – this is one small camera. Almost a little too small for my large hands. The feel is quite solid and weighs a little bit more than what I would have expected from just looking at it. The dial buttons on top click with a nice snap, and other buttons and menu navigation seems quick and responsive. The 3 inch LCD screen is huge, sharp and clear (remind me to get a screen protector for it).

It has a look and feel of a rangefinder camera. The viewfinder is pretty much useless, only offering 77% coverage. Why only 77% coverage Canon?? I would greatly enjoy using the viewfinder – but not with such a large hit to composition while using it. I really enjoy seeing dials on the top of the camera for ISO settings and exposure compensation. Very handy to have them on top allowing for quick access to important functions and complimenting the camera body style.

The camera is quick on start up and ready to go in no time. A live histogram provides constant exposure feedback on the LCD screen which is a great feature for dialing in the correct exposure before taking the photo.

One of the first photos I took with it is shown above. Photographed in my backyard in the late afternoon sunshine this photo shows both great detail but also some chromatic aberrations. Also note the distortion in the lower left corner.

The photo was taken in RAW using Aperature-Priority and -1.0 exposure compensation. It was hand held at 1/15s at f4.5 with image stabilization on. The ISO speed was 80 and it was shot at 6mm (equivalent to 28mm on a 35mm camera).

The RAW image was processed using Photoshop CS4 and Camera Raw 5.2. I adjusted color, saturation, sharpening and more in the conversion to make the most pleasing image possible (i am not interested in how it looks at default settings – only processed results).

You can see in the 100% crop above (100% view seen in the Camera Raw 5.2 window) the detail present in the leaves. Noise is minimal and there is nice detail in the shadows.

The 100% crop from the sky is more troublesome. There was a lot of purple and blue fringing present. The reason why I photographed this scene was to check on the color fringing. I was able to eliminate much, but not all, of the color fringing in Camera Raw. The highlights in the sky also went pure white with no recoverable detail.

One can not make many conclusions after using a camera for just 5 minutes like I did here. I do like the detail I am seeing, but it looks like there are going to be some scenes that are going to give this camera trouble.

December 4, 2008

Today found me with some extra time to walk around and photograph with the G10 before I set up my booth here at the Tempe Art Festival. I was able to find some excellent subjects to photograph to continue testing the RAW image capabilities of the camera. I must say that having a camera this size is great for certain types of photography as it draws little or no attention – something that is hard to avoid when shooting with larger cameras. In two very short days of testing I am really having fun using this little camera.

Before getting on to today’s images I wanted to talk just a bit more on yesterday’s photo. The reason I photographed that scene was because I knew it would have the potential to give the camera problems. There was a huge exposure range for one, lots of small detail, and very difficult lighting in the top of the photo with the extremely bright background and dark tree branches in the foreground – I knew that if I was going to see any chromatic aberrations I would find it there. And in that regard the camera unfortunately didn’t dissappoint. It isn’t as bad as from some cameras I have seen and like I said much of it can be cleaned in Camera Raw – unfortunately chromatic aberrations are still a necessary evil with such small digital sensors.

On to images from today, the first is of a nicely lit cactus. This is about as easy of an exposure as you can get – no major highlights to blow out, no dark shadows, and the camera exposed the image perfectly. It was shot in RAW at ISO 80, lens set at 10.8mm, at 1/250s at f4.0 in aperature priority with no exposure compensation. The final image seen here was processed in Camera Raw 5.2 where color, saturation, and sharpness settings among others were applied. It was finally sharpened for web with PK Sharpner.

You can see the great detail in the 100% crop just below. The only problem I am seeing is some very slight chromatic aberrations in the red/green variety along the edges of the cactus thorns. These are easily removed in the RAW software.

So what happens when we push things a bit? I am a big fan of pushing the envelope with lighting, preferring high contrast scenes. It doesn’t get any more difficult then when shooting directly into the sun. I remember my old Canon 1Ds never enjoyed looking into the sun, making some photos look like a nuclear explosion and producing all sorts of overexposure artifacting.

This image was shot using aperature-priority at ISO 80, at 1/500s at f5.0, with -1.0 exposure compensation and the built-in neutral density filter on. The built-in ND filter allows for up to 3 stops of light intensity reduction – a great feature. The image was processed in Camera Raw 5.2 and further adjusted in Photoshop CS4.

Well the G10 kept the nuclear explosion in check and the sun is quite pleasing. However the foreground in front of the sun is going to need some major cleanup. It is also difficult to see, but if you look at the sky above the sun, as well as the sky just to the right of the right-most pole, you can see some off-color circles. These are most likely caused by the bright sunlight reflecting off of the image sensor and bouncing off the rear lens element at the time of exposure. These two problems would have to be addressed manually in photoshop. There is also a little more noise in this image – not necessarily unexpected.

Another thing I love to do is photograph panoramics. I accomplish that by taking a series of photos and stitching the images together. Normally I am using a tripod and have the head completely leveled off. But in this instance I hand-held the G10 and took 3 horizontal photos that I first processed in Camera Raw 5.2, then stitched together in Photoshop CS4 using Photomerge in its auto setting. I then used the warp filter to return the resulting photomerged image into one that looked normal again.

The three photos were photographed in aperature priority at 1/640s at f4.5, -1/3 exposure compensation, ISO 80 at 6mm. There is nice shadow detail and none of the highlights are blown out. The foreground is tack sharp – but the background looks a little soft – perhaps my error in either focusing or by not allowing for enough depth of field by shooting at f4.5.

And finally for today I was able to photograph a nice sunset from the roof of my RV.

I was quite pleased with the color rendition. There were some red chromatic aberrations in the dark objects that were in front of the setting sun. I was able to clean up most of it when processing the RAW file in Camera Raw 5.2.

The photo was shot using aperature priority, hand-held at 1/80s at f4.5, with an ISO of 80, -2/3 exposure compensation with a lens setting of 6mm.

December 16, 2008

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about the dynamic range of the G10 – in particular about recovering detail in the shadows. The timing is perfect as Lightroom 2.2 was just released today allowing for full RAW processing of G10 RAW files in Lightroom (prior to LR 2.2 I was using Camera Raw 5.2 for RAW conversions for the G10). Lightroom has quickly evolved and has become my default RAW converter (although I still, depending on the image, will use other RAW converters for my Canon 5D images such as DPP, Capture One, and DxO). It is great that Adobe is supporting some of the higher-end point and shoot cameras as it allows me to use the same tools and workflow as I would with my regular work.

For this example I selected an image I photographed this past weekend. It was photographed in Tucson during the 4th Ave. Street Fair near the end of a spectacular sunset. The image was photographed in RAW in aperature priority, at ISO 80, and hand-held at 1/13s at f4.5 with no flash. The bottom half of the photo is underexposed by a good 3+ stops, while the top half of the photo is also underexposed slightly.

Before Lightroom adjustments

After Lightroom adjustments

The above photos show the before and after versions of the same image. The before was processed in LR 2.2 with no settings adjusted from the default settings. The after photo shows the end result I obtained strictly from adjustments made in LR. I ended up going perhaps a little overboard in bringing out the shadows, but I did that to show what I found to be some fairly impressive results from this little camera. In the after image, we are looking at a foreground 4+ stops brighter than the original. I was a little bit surprised at how much I was able to bring out.

Of course there are consequences to bringing out this much in the shadows – a big increase in noise and a loss of fine detail. This is to be expected even in higher end cameras and the G10 appears to exhibit more noise and loss of fine detail than what you would expect from a higher end camera. But still, I was impressed with the results none the less. Below are a few 100% crops for you to decide for yourself.

Detail of before lightroom adjustments

Detail after lightroom adjustments

Detail of before lightroom adjustments

Detail after lightroom adjustments

May 15, 2009

A recall has been recently issued for the G10 camera. A free repair for certain cameras which experience a line problem appearing in images. More info on Canon’s website here.