Video compression, codecs and transcoding

This is a very useful article on video compression, codecs and transcoding.

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Guides/Understanding_Video_Compression_01.htm

Digital restoration of old films

Just find a good book on digital restoration, with practical advice and useful examples. I'm planning to digitise all my films. It's a plan to save the fading films, as well as my fading memory!

Here is the link to the book http://photo-repair.com/DigiRestBook.htm

Top quotes from great photographers

If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough. — Robert Capa

The photograph itself doesn’t interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality. — Henri Cartier-Bresson

It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter. — Alfred Eisenstaedt

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. — Ansel Adams

Everyone will take one great picture, I’ve done better because I’ve taken two. — David Bailey

A camera alone does not make a picture. To make a picture you need a camera, a photographer and above all a subject. It is the subject that determines the interest of the photograph. — Man Ray

Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures. — Don McCullin

All photography is propaganda. — Martin Parr

The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words. — Elliott Erwitt

Lightroom 3 resources

There is a huge supply of Lightroom 3 resources. Among them, I found the following extremely useful:

• Free video tutorial from Peachpit.
• NAPP Lightroom learning centre -- It is not cheap, but many of them are useful.
• Jeffrey Friedl's Lightroom plugin page.
• The Lightroom Lab.
• The Lightroom blog.
• Lightroom Secrets.

There is an official Lightroom forum, but I find that the unofficial one is sometimes more useful.

Disk Utility of Mac OS X 10.6

Everyone seems to say Mac OS X is user-friendly and you need not go through pages of user's manual. Most of the case, yes; but sometimes it isn't. Just now I'm trying to duplicate a non-copyrighted DVD. I opened Disk Utility, choosed File > New > "Disk Image from Folder...". So far so good. Then I created a disk image, burned it, and put the duplicate in a DVD player. It didn't play the DVD. What's wrong? I went to Apple's support page. Here is the answer: You need to choose "DVD/CD Master" before you click "Create" to create the image. Why shouldn't there be a prompt, such that I wouldn't waste my time to burn a few unreadable DVD before I learned of my mistake? Is this because Steve Job wants to discourage pirating? But my DVD is just my friends' non-copyrighted home movie!

iMovie '09 -- tips and tricks

There are good tutorials on Apple's website about iMovie, but it only tells you how you can follow the Apple's way of doing things -- clueless even if you just deviate from it slightly. For example, I am now trying to re-arrange my iMovie events, iMovie projects and iPhoto libraries to more logical locations when upgrading from my old MacBook to my new iMac 27". But eventually I found that I could not do so manually. It's now a mess, and I think I have to put them into the original folder structure, let iMovie recognise them, before I rearrange them within iMovie. Apple just doesn't tell you that.

Fortunately I've found some informative sites on iMovie '09:

• iLife Tips and Tricks -- a comprehensive site
• Unlocking iMovie -- it's what the title suggests
• iCreate -- the official blog of the magazine
• Jim Heid's site as supplement to his book
• 40 iLife tricks -- where I'm reminded not to move iMovie projects manually
• Wondershare Mac iMovie -- it's basically a site selling Wondershare software, but it also contain some useful information

To start with Lightroom 3

Gone are the days of hundreds-page user's manual accompanying each piece of software. Nowadays you have to rely on the help manual within the software, or the website of the software developer. But a better source is the community on the net, in particular where you need to make decisions. Here is a good "walk-through" guide for Lightroom 3:

• Photokaboom, a clear written guide covering all major issues.

Photo management software - Lightroom 3 or Aperture 3?

Lightroom and Aperture are both raw converters and photo managers. As I said before, there is not much difference in quality between Lightroom and Aperture as raw converters. It's pretty much a tie for me. To choose between one of them, I need to consider their features as a photo manager. I'll leave the Nikon View/Capture NX pair as they don't play as a good photo manager.

Each of Lightroom and Aperture has an excellent feature set. If you've got good skills and sufficient time, you can almost produce nearly identical looking images by either one. The decision will thus come with the small details, in particular the convenience and fun of use. My post-processing workflow will also have a lot to do with which one I prefer.

There are never-ending Aperture vs. Lightroom debates. The least biased submissions that I can find are those put forward by Scott Kelby. Among the factors commonly raised in the never-ending Aperture vs. Lightroom debate in various forums, I find the following ones that concerns me and my workflow most:

(A) Lightroom's advantages

• Adobe gives you lens correction profiles and camera profiles similar to Nikon's Picture Control. For Aperture, you have to rely on profiles created by the community. [Any solution? No. Use Capture NX2 for converting critical works instead.]
• It seems Aperture's white balance is not as accurate on import in comparison to Lightroom, and there is no auto white balance feature like in Lightroom. [Any solution? Seems none.]
• It has a gradient tool. [Any solution? No, unless you use a suitable plugin.]
• Lightroom blows away Aperture for color adjustments. It has a targeted adjustment tool where you just put your cursor on the screen and move it up or down to adjust hue/saturation/luminance. I could make several adjustments in Lightroom before I could select the eye dropper tool and pick the color I need in Aperture. [Any solution? No.]
• Aperture has export presets that are limited to file type and pixel size. Lightroom exports presets incorporate just about every setting that is available in the program. You can't sharpen photos during export with Aperture. [Any solution? No convenient solution.]
• Noise reduction is better in Lightroom. [Any solution for Aperture? Use plugins.]

(B) Aperture's advantages

• Aperture has a real clone brush and Lightroom only has a spot removal tool. If I don't have Aperture and want to remove a power line in the sky, I have to use Capture NX2 or Photoshop. [Any solution? No. Use Capture NX2 instead]
• It's a better organizer. For example, in Lightroom, all (smart) collections are separate from the image hierarchy (the folders), which is a mess. In Aperture, (smart) albums are part of the hierarchy, so you always know where they are. [Any solution for Lightroom? No, but it is not unbearable.]
• Almost any adjustment can be brushed in locally. It's brush is more sophisticated, e.g. it can just affects the highlights and shadows rather than anything else it touches. [Any solution for Lightroom? No, but it only slows down the process.]
• Vignette and skin smoothing is better in Aperture. [Any solution for Lightroom? No, unless you use plugins.]
• It has more "fun", e.g. faces, places, slideshows and books. They are not "must-have" items, but they're fun. [Any solution for Lightroom? No, although we can use iPhoto for slideshows and books.]

It's a difficult choice of gives-and-takes. Finally I've decided to buy Lightroom 3, because it seems it takes a much larger market share and shows better potential for improvement.

購買iMac的最後決定。 iMac - the final decision.

考慮過所有各款型號iMac 2010的意見後, 我在Apple網上站訂購了以下的型號：

Having studied all the commentaries about the different configurations of the new iMac 2010, I have ordered the following one from Apple Store:

• iMac 27" 3.2GHz Intel Core i3
• 8 GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (4 x 2GB) (Yes, I know third-party RAM is cheaper, but it's less convenient)
• 2TB Serial ATA Drive (Firewire 800 drive is not cheap in Hong Kong, and it's slower than internal SATA drive)
• ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR3 SDRAM
• Wireless keyboard, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad (it's a luxurious option, but please take into account its decorative value!)
• Apple battery charger (initially I didn't intend to buy it, but I just found that my NiMH batteries that had not been used for a few months were dead; thus I have to buy new anyway)
• Total price: HK$16,454

用甚麼軟件轉原始檔？Which raw converter? Aperture 3, Lightroom 3 or Capture NX2?

The choice of software is closely related to workflow, which will be discussed in another article. Here, we just talk about raw converter. As I'm a Nikon DSLRs and Mac user, I have the following choices:

• Aperture 3
• Lightroom 3 or Adobe Raw Converter
• Capture NX2
• BibblePro
• CaptureOne
• RPP
• Silkpix

I have been using Nikon's own converter for several years. Back in the time of Nikon D70, it was the only choice that could really give you the highest quality of conversion. But now other converters are getting better, and the gap has been bridged. As I'm building up a new digital darkroom, I need to start afresh.

Thom Hogan recently posted a detailed analysis. At the moment, I won't consider BibblePro, CaptureOne, RPP or Silkpix due to my intended workflow. But still I have three choices. After I've read Thom's opinion, I still the following relevant factors that affect my choice:

• Capture NX2. It doesn't support 64-bit or reliable multicore support. It's slow. It's helpful for tweaking up an NEF to its full capacity, except white balance. It doesn't fit into the Aperture or Lightroom workflow. Only Photo Mechanic works well with Capture NX2.
• Lightroom and Adobe Raw Converter. They are fast. Adobe provides custom lens profiles. But they come up with some odd white balance values on their own. They are a bit "orange" on the reds.
• Aperture 3. It's fastest among the three.

I'll use either Aperture 3 or Lightroom 3 most of the time, and Capture NX2 only in tough images. But still I have to choose between the two, Aperture or Lightroom? As either one as a raw converter is good enough, my choice will mainly depend on my workflow.

哪一款 iMac? Which iMac?

當選定用 Apple iMac 而不是 Windows 建立數碼黑房後，下一個問題是：哪一款 iMac? 較平宜的牌本，顯示器只有21.5吋，像數只有 1920x1080，如用作數碼黑房，還是要大一點才方便。較高級型號，擁有27吋顯示器，更重要的是像數高達 2560x1440，有較大空間用作編輯相片。兩款27吋的iMac，分別是處理器和顯示卡，較平宜的賣 HK$12,188，是3.2GHz Intel Core i3 和 ATI Radeon HD5670 (512MB)，而較昂貴的賣 HK$14,788，是2.8GHz Intel Quad-Core i5 和 ATI Radeon HD5750 (1GB)，售價高了21%，但性能卻只高出15%左右，其中我最關心的 Aperture 指標，更只高出11%。再加上我擔心較快的顯示卡每令機件運作的溫度過高，所以還是決定省點錢，買3.2GHz Core i3，把錢用於把記憶體加至8G為上算。雖然有網站的測試結果與我的結論相反，但我對速度的要求不是很高，而且也絕不會出售二手電腦，所以仍然維持以上決定。Digllord 的CPU速度測試也和我的估計吻合。不要忘記，連 Lightroom 3 也不能盡用四核！

Once I've decided to use Apple iMac, instead of Windows, to build up my digital darkroom, my next question is: which iMac? The 21.5" one only gives you a monitor with 1920x1080. I need more screen real estate to operate my digital darkroom, and thus I choose the 27" one, which gives me a screen with 2560x1440. The differences between the two 27" iMac are the CPU and display card. The one sold at HK$12,188 gives you 3.2GHz Intel Core i3 and ATI Radeon HD5670 with 512MB. The one sold at HK$14,788 gives you 2.8GHz Intel Quad-Core i5 and ATI Radeon HD5750 with 1GB. It's 21% more expensive, but it seems to boost the performance by about 15% only. The most significant benchmark, Aperture, sees only a 11% increase. I'm also concerned about the operating temperature of the faster display card. Thus I'll buy the Core i3 one, and saving some money for the memory upgrade to 8G. Although some commentators have reached a different conclusion, I won't change my decision because I don't demand top speed and I'll never resell my iMac. Digllord's findings of real life speed of CPUs also confirm my view. And don't forget that even Lightroom 3 cannot use all 4 cores fully!

暫時我找到最詳盡有關 iMac 的評論有以下幾個：

At the moment, the best iMac reviews that I can find are the following:

• CNET – Review By: Rich Brown
• PC Mag – Review By: Joel Santo Domingo
• Computer Shopper – Review By: Jonathan Rougeot
• Engadget – Review By: Nilay Patel
• AppleInsider – Review By: Daniel Eran Dilger
• Macworld – Review By: Roman Loyola
• Digllord – Review By: Lloyd

建立數碼黑房。 Build a digital darkroom.

建立數碼黑房的第一步，當然是購買電腦；而選購前最重要的決定，是採用 Windows 還是 Mac 的作業系統。以往我用 Windows，但自從幾年前買了部 MacBook 和 iPod Touch 後，便不能自拔，雖然沒有用作數碼黑房，但也有用作簡單的影片剪輯。不錯，過去 Apple 的優點經常給人跨大了，但不能否認，如僅用作數碼黑房，Mac OS 天生始終優於 Windows，硬件價格與 Windows 的差異也不斷收窄。是時候轉用 Apple 了。

決定了是 Mac 後，緊接的問題是，iMac 或 MacPro？ 我同意 Lloyd Chambers 說 iMac 不能擴充，但我不是專業攝影師，操作數碼黑房時，不會追求頂級的速度，我可以接受外置硬碟作備份的速度，所以還是選外表較漂亮的 iMac。

Apple 今天 (7月27日) 剛公布 新一代的 iMacs，有雙核 dual-core Core i3 和 i5，也有四核 quad-core Core i5 和 i7. 雙核處理器的速度達 3.6GHz，四核是 2.93GHz。所有 iMac 都有獨立 ATI Radeon HD GPUs，由 256MB 4670 至是高的 1GB 5750。RAM 起碼有 4GB。可選擇 256GB SSD 作為第一或第二硬碟。

You must buy a computer before you can build a digital darkroom. An obvious question is: Windows or Mac OS? I have been using Windows for years, but I think I am converting to Mac. I have been using a MacBook and iPad Touch for a few years for editing video clips and other things not relating to photography. It's time for me to start afresh with a new system to manage my collection of millions of images. It's the time to switch wholly to Mac.

The next question is: iMac or Mac Pro? I fully agree with Lloyd Chambers that iMac is a dead-end machine, but speed is not my main concern as I am not a professional photographer. I don't have customers' deadline to meet. MacPro accepts 4 internal drives, but external drives are perfectly acceptable to me. Hence, I'll buy the eye-appealing iMac.

Apple today (27 July) announced an updated line of iMacs. The new series offer dual-core Core i3, i5, quad-core Core i5 or i7. Dual-core CPUs are now rated up to 3.6GHz, whereas quad-core speeds to 2.93GHz. All systems now use dedicated ATI Radeon HD GPUs, from 256MB 4670 to 1GB 5750 at the peak. RAM on each system is 4GB by default. New is the option of a 256GB SSD as a primary or secondary drive.

這是一個怎麼樣的網誌？ What is this blog?

我喜愛攝影，因為這是歌頌天父創造的最直接方式。攝影的內容不論是人物、動物、大自然、建築物或抽象的顏色和光暗，無一不是上帝直接或間接的創造。

網上已有數之不盡的攝影網誌，為甚麼還要再設一個？原因很簡單，我找不到百份百合自己心意的攝影網誌，不論中、英文也沒有，相信與我有相同要求的人很多，所以便自創一個中英雙語的攝影網誌，公諸同好。甚麼攝影網誌才算合心意呢？以下是我的要求：

• 要對攝影認真，像 Thom Hogan ，但本網誌不是 Thom Hogan，我不會像他一樣，寫相機指南或舉辦攝影班，也不會像他專寫單一牌子器材。
• 要喜愛攝影，而不是只喜愛攝影器材。正如 Ken Rockwell 所說，拍攝磚牆不是攝影；本網誌是寫給 "第七級" 的藝術家，或現仍在 "第五級" 、但有志晉升 "第七級" 的業餘攝影愛好者看的。
• 雖然不愛沉迷攝影器材，但仍然要關心攝影器材和軟件。我不會像 Dpreview 般，深入研究器材的性能。Dpreview 已做的詳盡測試，我不會重複，但我會分享我實際使用某些攝影器材和軟件後的體驗，好讓大家參考。

I love photography, one of the most straightforward ways to praise God. Every thing can become a subject of photography—people, animals, landscape, architecture, or even abstract colour and light, all being His creation, directly or otherwise.

There are tons of photography blogs around. Why should I add one more? Simply I fail to find one that suits me fine, so I try to create a bilingual one to fill the gap and share with my buddies. What would suit me fine? Here are a few requirements:

• I'm serious about photography, like Thom Hogan. But I am not trying to replicate his site here. I won't write camera guides or organize workshops, nor will I write about a single brand.
• I love photography, not photographic equipment. As Ken Rockwell says, only losers spend their time photographing brick walls. This blog is written for "the seventh level artists", or the "fifth level amateurs of pure spirit" who wish to transcend to the seventh level.
• Although I am not obsessive about photographic equipment and software, I am concerned about them. This blog is not Dpreview, where you will find meticulous tests that I won't do. I'll instead share my experience gained in the field.