December 3, 2007

Aaron's Equipment, Software & Tools List

This is an ongoing index of equipment, software and tools that I use routinely. Links are provided wherever possible to either manufacturers or vendors. It's my goal to keep this list as up to date as possible. I will likely start linking off this list to blog posts in the future if I write about noteworthy techniques or experiences involving listed items. Jump To:
[Photographic] [Computer] [Software] [Misc. Gadgets]

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Posted by amahler on December 3, 2007 at 1:38 PM
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January 6, 2007

Seriously Cool OS X Apps & Tools

While Linux remains my OS for everything "behind the scenes", OS X has pretty much become my primary working environment in the last couple of years. When I was more X11-centric with Linux on my desktop, tailoring my working environment with various tools and hot keys was always especially crucial. I want tools to be at my fingertips, accessible by muscle-memory and well integrated.

During my vacation over the Christmas holiday I had some time to really zero in on a few apps that have piqued my interest over the last few months. I wanted to start off 2007 by sharing some pretty fabulous shareware and freeware apps that I highly recommend for your OS X desktop.

I want to give credit for a lot of these discoveries to Leo, Alex, Merlin and the TWiT gang through their various fantastic podcasts, namely: This Week in Media, MacBreak Weekly and TWiT.

More after the jump...

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Posted by amahler on January 6, 2007 at 2:41 PM
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January 28, 2006

Hyperdrive HD80 - Hands-on Review

12 images on one page

My primary cards are a pair of Sandisk Ultra II one gigabyte CF's. They are a great match with the 20D and my Lexar firewire reader, but they only hold about 103 shots in RAW mode. A little over 200 shots between card dumps might sound like a lot, but when I am shooting political events, for instance, I can go through hundreds of shots in very short order. This requires me to keep my laptop close at hand for periodic card dumps... but this isn't always convenient and I'm certainly not going to hump a 17" Powerbook around with me under most shooting conditions. Obviously, I can buy more cards... but they aren't the cheapest things in the world and they can be a little bit of a pain to keep track of in chaotic situations.


On the weekend of January 14th I traveled to Williamsburg on behalf of the Democratic Party of Virginia to photograph the Inauguration of Tim Kaine (Pre-Events, Richmond Ball) as Virginia's latest Governor. It was a historic event on many levels, not the least of which being the fact that Kaine was only the third person to be sworn in as governor in Williamsburg. The other two were Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. :)

The week before leaving, I started to revisit my storage issues knowing that the logistics of the event (and the fact I was traveling alone) would make two cards a major limitation. In the past I've considered such units as Epson's P2000 with its gorgeous screen for image review but have not wanted to spend $500 on a unit that isn't known for being super fast or especially great at handling RAW images to their fullest. I've continued to be baffled by the fact that nobody has made a decent, simple CF card reader for the iPods. My clickwheel iPod has been a 40 gigabyte firewire/USB2 drive screaming for this kind of use... but alas, Apple's Camera Connector only works on models newer than mine and has its own flaws. The fact that nobody has made a battery/slot "sled" of sorts for the iPods that tackles this problem in a good manner still baffles me. But I digress...

I was on the verge of ordering an additional card or two when I happened upon references and positive reviews for the Hyperdrive HD80. Upon visiting their website, I discovered I could get a bare unit with no hard disk for less than the cost of the cards I was about to order. Since I had some 2.5" IDE hard disks from old laptops already on hand, the extra savings of buying a bare Hyperdrive were too good to pass up. Besides, if the Hyperdrive worked as advertised, it would be the piece of equipment I had been hoping to find for several years.

What follows is my description and hands-on review of the Hyperdrive HD80.

Be sure to also check out the captioned photos I took of the unit using my new light tent.

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Posted by amahler on January 28, 2006 at 10:27 PM
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December 31, 2005

Equipment Update & Informal Reviews

Life has been pretty busy and I've not been doing as much creative photography of late... at least nothing worth sharing on the blog. I'd intended to reverse that trend during the last 10 days or so of vacation over the holidays. Such is life. I've certainly not been bored and the holiday has been a pleasant and relaxing one for the most part. I've got a few days left. :)

I did, however, realize I was more than a bit behind with updating my Equipment, Software & Tools List where I try to keep a running inventory of my bits of gear. I'll write about a few of the items and my experiences here for anyone interested.

Click the "continue" link for the full barrage discussing backpacks, bags, a boom, DIY stands and cases and some words about high speed wireless networking the open source way... :)

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Posted by amahler on December 31, 2005 at 1:57 PM
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