SELF PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOKS

Once you have figured out how to get the best of printing by going to MPIX, then why not take the next logical step and try your hand at publishing your own books. The easiest way to get on board this is with a MAC computer using the software iPhoto and uploading your images to their bookmakers. However, I may have just found a link to go around iPhoto and go directly to the book publisher which will be of great use to PC users. Have a look and report back.

APERTURE GOES ON SALE

Sometimes if you shout loud enough even the largest company may hear you. The grumbling became a roar as weeks turned into months of waiting for Apple to update Aperture - to make it usable on the new INTEL Chipset Apple boxes, and for this photographer - an update to make the RAW images from the D200 accessable. They announced updates to be released "in March" and promptly missed their deadline. Of course the corporate spin was that they would rather miss the release date than release an buggy update. Meanwhile, unknown to some of my professional friends (using D200 Nikons), the OS update 10.4.6 contained the RAW translator for Aperture. That answers a major mystery --- RAW updates are, or can be, part of an OS update and not necessarily an Aperture update.

Last week APPLE released it's much awaited update for Aperture (v. 1.1) and in what can be considered a one-two punch they announced a price drop of 200. for the purchase of Aperture and 200. rebate for instore purchases for those of us on the bleeding edge who purchased Aperture when it was released last year. It is a smart move and one intended to silence (by paying off) its critics. Heck, who wouldn't want a new iPod video?

If you deal with images and are a MAC user, you should have this program. Keep in mind it is not Photoshop and is not intended to be a replacement for Photoshop. However, it resolves a lot of workflow issues, it exhibits wonderful translation of RAW to jpeg and tiff and it will cut your time in workflow - dramatically. So far, this is a MAC only program, but with the advent of the intel chips and APPLE edging into making the new boxes run Windoze, a PC version will be available sooner rather than later. At a new retail price of 299., there is nothing on the radar that come close to what this software will do.

If you want more reasons to switch, or purchase, now is the time to seek that knowledge.

NIKON DIGITUTOR

Hey, now Nikon has a great idea! The DIGITUTOR is a part of Nikon's site that you can use to see - SEE - how your camera works. Happy Easter Eggs.

Second Class - UNT - SPRING

So someone take the time to run down an outline of what happened in our second meeting.

FIRST CLASS - UNT Continuing Education - SPRING

SPRING 2006 - First class went very much in line with early description of last Fall's class. We added detail to it by getting down and dirty into f.stops and shutter speeds --- what they do and how they change your images. If you read the previous blogs, you are ahead of the game. Feel free to add to this.

NIKON D70 Time Bomb

Beware owners of the Nikon D70 camera body. There is a potential problem with your camera. We are still lacking full details, and you can bet there will not be agressive disclosure of this problem by the folks at Nikon. I discovered the problem recently when I dusted off my D70 from storage, inserted a freshly charged battery, and nothing. Nothing happened for a while, but I went through all the logical steps - charging the battery again, clicking the on-off button to try to jolt it to life ... and nothing going. Then what has come to be called the "blinking green light of death" came on on the back of the camera. At the time, I did not know there was such a thing, but only a couple of days later I received an e mail from a previous student who described the problem I was having precisely - was happening to her D70. OK, two does not make a trend. Then, I was describing the situation to a fellow photographer, and he said the guy he sold his D70 to had just called him to let him know the D70 had suddenly quit working. Now we have a trend. In talking to the folks ad Dallas Camera, they described the problem before I had time to finish my sentence. It seems there is a defect in one of the solders on a circuit board in the D70. I don't know if this is the early models or all D70's. I also do not know if this includes the D70s, but must assume at this time that it does not. Start with the business that sold you the camera. They should be able to do all the proper shipping and whatever else goes along with a non-recall recall (for lack of a better description). I have heard that Nikon is fixing this problem at no charge - as they should - but that is a little hard to believe. SO BEWARE THE BLINKING GREEN LIGHT OF DEATH - if this is your only camera or you are thinking of buying a used D70.