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Rangefinder
Magazine Digital Photography: Panther Upgrade, Pt. II by John Rettie
Last month I left everyone hanging with a tale of woe as I tried to upgrade my Mac G4 to Panther, the newest version (10.3) of the Mac OS X operating system. Researching various Mac forums suggested that the problem lay with third-party additions on my computer. I even downloaded a very useful eBook (Take Control of Upgrading to Panther by Joe Kissell) from the www.tidbits.com web site for $5. It confirmed that Panther is more persnickety about all of the computer’s components and attachments being up to Apple’s stringent specs. First I checked that the Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2.8) operating system was running optimally. Among other things this involved zapping the PRAM by holding down the Command-Option-P-R keys while rebooting and running the Disk Utility to repair permissions. Everything seemed in order but still the first install CD would not load. Next I unplugged all three external Firewire drives, the second monitor and the USB cables to the printer and card readers. Still no luck, but at least this inferred they were not the culprits. This only left the non-Apple RAM memory modules, a second internal hard drive, the CPU upgrade and the two graphics cards as the potential source of the problems. So, I opened up the case and removed three of the four memory modules leaving just the original 256MB one that came with the computer when I bought it over three years ago. Still no luck. It was now down to the graphics cards or the CPU upgrade. I removed the ATI Nexus GA graphics card from one of the PCI slots. I was in luck. The Install CD loaded and I could now install the Panther operating system. I did not want to run my computer without two monitors but at least this experiment proved that the Powerlogix dual 1.0Ghz CPU upgrade is compatible with Panther. Fortunately, the ATI Radeon 9000 Pro graphics card I have in the main AGP slot includes dual ports on the back. I was already using the DVI digital port with an Eizo Color Edge LCD monitor I was in the process of reviewing and the other port uses the unique-to-Apple ADC port. A quick Google search on the Internet revealed that I could use an adapter that would allow me to connect my second LaCie 19-inch CRT monitor using this port. The Radeon card includes a DVI to VGA adapter, but it’s not very clear from Apple or ATI that a regular CRT can be connected to the ADC port. The information implies that it will only support a digital (DVI or ADC) monitor. First thing the next morning I made a quick trip to my local CompUSA store and purchased a Dr. Bott VGA Extractor for $39.99. I plugged in my second monitor and the picture was vastly better than it had been using the old Nexus card. Now I was ready to load Panther—it had taken me a few hours by trial and error. Everything was then plain sailing. I took the opportunity while the computer was open to add more memory giving me 1.25GB in total and replace the original 30GB hard drive with a new 120GB drive. In addition I installed a USB 2.0 PCI card to give me four extra high-speed USB ports. As a precaution I loaded Panther on the new drive first to make sure everything worked correctly. In case you’re wondering, I actually had the OS loaded on a second drive I installed over a year ago. I was just using the main drive for storage. Fortunately, everything seemed to work okay, and after a couple of days, I upgraded the OS system on my other drive and so far just about everything is working okay. The only two problems I’ve run into are a non-functioning external card reader and the occasional crashing of Microsoft Entourage, which I use as my e-mail program. Now that Apple has upgraded the built-in mail program, I may switch programs. After my initial problems and concerns, I am more than happy with Panther. It is definitely faster at loading and scrolling through dozens of files and folders. The most impressive new feature is Expose. By pushing the F9 key, all windows on the monitor are made small enough so none overlap. When you’ve got several programs running or many images open, it’s a godsend to be able to look at all of them and quickly switch to the window you need. It works almost instantaneously, and makes it much easier to find things. It’s a function not available on any other computer operating system and is one of many things that really puts the Mac ahead again in elegance of operation. Kudos to Apple for developing this feature.
Eizo
ColorEdge Monitor However, Apple does have competition based on the fabulous images I was privileged to experience for three weeks when I reviewed the Eizo ColorEdge CG21 LCD. I say privileged because you’ve got to be privileged to afford the $2899 price tag on this high-end monitor. In return for laying down the bucks you get a nicely made 21-inch monitor with thin black bezels and a 1600x1200 display. At first it might not look that different from other similarly sized monitors but once you turn it on, the brilliant and detailed pictures will convince you otherwise. I did not compare them side by side, but the Eizo ColorEdge appears to be as good or better than the 20-inch Apple Cinema Display. A key to the Eizo’s color accuracy is that every display leaving the factory is individually calibrated to produce accurate colors. In addition, each monitor comes with sophisticated Color Navigator calibration software that has to be used with a GretagMacbeth Eye-One spectrophotometer. Unfortunately, this device is not included with the monitor and has to be purchased separately. Worse yet, the calibration software does not even run without the Eye-One attached, so I could not check out the software since I don’t own an Eye-One. All in all I was impressed with the CG21 monitor. If you’re concerned about high standards of color management, and can afford it, this monitor should be high on your shopping list. If you want the same quality, but can be content with a smaller screen, the CG18 (1280x1040) costs only $1859. Oh, and they come with a five-year warranty.
Digital Photo Copy
Cruiser Self-contained external storage systems utilizing large hard drives have become popular as a means to off-load images from storage cards without a computer. Now, Alera Technologies has gone a step further with the introduction of a device that records photos directly from cards onto a CD without requiring a computer. This device makes it quite easy to burn more than one disc, creating backups or providing images for a client if there’s no computer around. It should also provide added peace of mind for people nervous about the reliability of data stored on hard drives in other portable storage devices. The Digital Photo Copy Cruiser is pretty easy to use. After dropping a blank CD-R into the disc tray, one only has to insert a storage card into the appropriate slot in front. Then, copying is automatically started. Each time a card is inserted a new folder is created to avoid having duplicate names. Unfortunately, the unit is not exactly portable, as it does not run on batteries. Instead it requires 12-volts supplied via a power adaptor. Of course one could hook it up to a 12-volt battery and presumably a cord to a 12-volt socket in a car would also work. It’s surprising that Alera does not supply these options as part of the kit since it would make it much more versatile. (Update: Alera now says the next version of the Digital Photo Copy Cruiser will be able to run on batteries.) What it does supply is a USB cable so the unit can be used as a card reader or as a regular external CD writer when hooked up to a computer. If you don’t already own an external CD writer and/or a card reader that can read six different kinds of storage cards this $229 unit might make a lot of sense.
Quick Book Review: Glitterguru on Photoshop John Rettie is a photojournalist who resides in Santa Barbara, CA. He has been using a camera as a professional for 34 years, a computer for 24 years, and has combined his knowledge of both for the past 11 years. Readers can contact him by e-mail at john@johnrettie.com or by snail-mail c/o Rangefinder.
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photographer—she spends
a considerable number of pages describing how to go about setting up
a digital photography business, getting clients, and keeping the business
going. She even covers basics of how to set up a studio shoot and producing
images for stock usage. If you’re a student or have been producing
mundane “classic” portraits and you would like to branch
out into producing out of the ordinary digital images, this book could
prove inspirational.