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By Nigel Johnson, on April 22nd, 2012
I had a dream, a dream of a Gigapan mounted on a moveable device with a time delay option. Unfortunately one was not available on the market, so after defining my main criteria I decided to build a system myself. My main criteria were as follows.
- Ability to move from along a defined but not necessarily restricted path
- Try not to limit to a linear track, and allow for corners/bends/hills if possible
- Ability to pan the camera on the top of the device between 2 angles
- Ability to define the number of shots to take along the route
- Ability to define a pause time between each shot
- Ability to support 5kg of camera hardware
- Ability to trigger the camera automatically (I have Nikon, but try not to limit it)
- Ability to be modular in design so the device can be extended in the future
- Lightweight and transportable – fitting in the smart car with my other equipment
- Be supported by standard photographic tripods
- Ability to run off internal battery power for at least 4 hours
- Be made from as many off-the-shelf components as possible
Phew, that’s a lot of requirements… now you can probably see why I had to build my own.
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By Nigel Johnson, on December 15th, 2010
I just had an interesting dilemma – which cheapish compact camera to buy so I can go “light” from time to time. After a lot of research and comparing stuff I narrowed it down to the following 3 options
- Panasonic Lumix TZ10 (approximately £200)
- Canon Powershot S95 (approximately £300)
- Canon Powershot G12 (approximately £350)
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By Nigel Johnson, on June 6th, 2010 
There are about 50 gazillion posts on the net about the iPad, its specs, peoples feelings as they purchase and unpack etc, so this is not about the product as such, but how it appeals (or falls short) to me as a photographer. In my introduction to to the keynote I was a little disappointed with the product, but, it did show some promise. Probably due to the short time since then, not a lot has moved on, and I still think the device has a lot of potential, but it still falls woefully short of being a photographers must-have tool in the medium term. Here’s why.
It’s heavier than I expected. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but this really wasn’t it. Watching Steve Jobs move it about effortlessly in the keynote, I assumed my arthritic gran would be able to swat flys with it but alas not. It’s heavy. This is not really a massive problem though as when you travel with it you would take it as carry on and it does replace, for the most part, the laptop, DVD player, iPod and book you would usually stash in your bag.
The screen is glass like. On the plus side this does mean a great, clear picture… until you touch it in any way. You need to stash a lens cloth somewhere close to hand as you’ll be using every time you look at it funny. You’ll also be reflecting at the merest hint of light somewhere else, but the picture is still pretty usable in bright sun-light, if you can get the angle right.
My USB port does not charge it. Same port I have always used to charge my old iPod and power external drives, but it does clearly state in the status bar that it is not charging. This would mean I’d have to carry the power lead and a travel kit with me everywhere, and explains why Apple provided a cable in the box – they also sell a branded international kit as well. C’mon Apple I still expect more.
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By Nigel Johnson, on February 27th, 2010 
So, apart from the spelling issue what’s this thing got that other devices haven’t? Well, I have been coveting an Epson P700 for quite some time, but shooting primarily in RAW means huge files. I have a fast camera and fast storage so I really want a fast backup device as well so the P7000 was disappointing. Enter the Sanho Colorspace UDMA.
general impressions
Now, in terms of looks the overall impression is “functional yet clunky”. The device itself is started by sliding a power switch and holding it for 2 seconds. This is a little less functional but an interesting security feature so you don’t accidentally switch it on while it’s falling around in your bag (although my camera bag is pretty well packed). If, like me, you’re not an avid manual reader then this will probably throw you to start with. The device is a little slow at booting taking about 30 seconds to get to the menu, and once ready for action you’re presented with your ‘favourites’ screen. This screen comes set-up with the defaults of backup and browse etc, and it’s pretty simple to work your way round and add things to it as you go.
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By Nigel Johnson, on January 28th, 2010 
So the new apple iPad. Well, by “bad” in the title I don’t mean the Michael Jackson version of “bad” I’m talking about seriously underwhelmed and possibly even a little disappointed by this new gizmo that had so much potential. This device could have taken the photography market by storm, but probably won’t (although we’ll see in 6 months when I am fully prepared to print out and eat this post  )
As a photographer, when I’m away from home I tend to back up the photos I take quite a bit. This means (in my case anyway) that I have a Hyperdrive Colourspace backup device. I chose this device primarily because of the price, flexibility (drive size) and most importantly the speed. The only other device that I would have considered was the Epson P7000, however the speed and price were hard to give in to. Both of these devices suffer from one pretty major issue – screen size.
Enter the dream iPad.
Firstly, the price is great – You would have to skip the entry level version due to the storage size, but even the fully loaded top end version is still in the price range of the Epson, but with a decent viewable screen. Next the storage, well I can take about 1100 shots on a 16GB card and I reckon I’d load the iPad with 3 cards before worrying – over 3000 shots – a suitably ample amount of space for a day’s shoot.
Now the really cool bit (in my dream) – Aperture or Lightroom workflow on a proper MacOS operating system.
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