Well after one year I’m beginning to think I may never need to clean my sensor again!  I love this product!  Unfortunately, it hasn’t been available to the public until recently so I  had to wait until now to write about it.

So the product is called Dust Shield and is made by Dust-Aid, the company that makes the great cleaning products I wrote about in my Sensor cleaning post.  Effectively the product is a clear optic filter that is placed over the opening to the camera’s chamber sealing off the chamber and sensor.  This product has a number of advantages – some not so obvious:

1. The main advantage is clear – by sealing off the chamber I am able to prevent dust from ever reaching the sensor.  I should add, before installing, I went to great lengths to completely clean the chamber including the sensor and mirror – otherwise every time the mirror flipped up and down I was afraid it would just reposition existing dust, possibly onto the sensor.
2. When working in a dusty environment the camera is still going to pick up dust, but now it lands on the Dust Shield instead of the sensor.  The selling point behind the Dust Shield -  it is far easier to replace the shield then clean the sensor.
3. But here is an advantage I didn’t anticipate.  What I found is dust was far less likely to show when on the Dust Shield.  I believe this is because the dust is now landing a fair distance away from the sensor, it just doesn’t create ugly black spots like it does when it lands on the sensor.  I’m always surprised at how little spots or scratches on filters aren’t viable on the final image – I believe the same principle is at play.
4. When it does get dusty, the Dust Shield is far easier to clean then the sensor – usually a couple of puffs from a hand held blower and I’m good to go.

Of course I know what everyone is thinking – what does it do to image quality?  I gotta admit, I was skeptical.  Having spent some $8,000 on one of the finest cameras available, and a bunch more on top quality lenses – I did not like the idea of now adding a piece of film to the image path.  My photos are our sole source of income, I just can’t  sacrifice quality no matter how convenient!  I had to be sure image quality didn’t suffer – here is my review.

I felt the best way to really test this product is with my absolute sharpest combination of equipment.  So I mounted what I think is my sharpest lens, my Canon 100 macro, on my best camera, a 21 mp Canon 1DsIII.   I used the two second timer with mirror lockup with a  f-stop of /8, – probably about as good of a combination as I could get.  I then mounted the whole thing on a monstrous Gitzo 1548 tripod, placed a bean bag on the camera and photographed a dollar bill taped to the wall.  If I couldn’t detect softness with my best setup, then I’m not going to see it with say a lessor camera or with a softer lens like the 100-400.

Full frame version of the dollar.

For reference, here is the full-frame version of dollar.  The red represents the area in which I cropped a 400×600 area of the image with the results displayed below the jump.

Without Dust Shield.

With Dust-Shield

I didn’t do any post processing -  not levels, curves or sharpening.

Looking at the results, if anything, I felt like the version with the Dust Shield was just as sharp if not possibly slightly sharper.  Now there is no way it could be sharper, I believe this appearance is because the “With Dust Shield” version is slightly darker.  In the 10 minutes I messed around with installing the Dust Shield for the first time, I lost some ambient light, but I wanted to keep both exposures equal at 1/30 of a second so it came out a bit darker.  If I was to do this test again, I would use flash as my main light source and eliminate this variable.  Maybe for some reason the “with Dust-Shield” version has more contrast which would also give the appearance of a sharper image.  Irregardless, this test was good enough to convince me!

Now for the bad news.  Currently, the Dust-Shield is only available for the Canon 5D and 5D II.  I understand they are planning on adding new versions soon.  I don’t have any more myself so I unable to do any further testing because I don’t want to remove my only Dust-Shield.  In fact, I’m embarrassed to admit but  I miss placed my samples  and have been using the same Shield for over a year now.  It is safe to say, when more become available, I will be ordering more!

Arches Photography guide application for iPhone and iTouch.

Well I must admit I am a reference material junkie!  I have shelves and shelves of books – guide books to National Parks, birds and animals, plants and wildflowers, animal tracks, geology…  The list goes on and on.  Not only do I have a bunch of book here, but I also keep many more in our trailer, and we usually send a box back and forth depending where we are traveling.  Unfortunately, they take up a ton of space and weight.

I also have to admit that I’m hooked on apps for my iTouch / iPhone – I have an iTouch.  Maps, weather, depth of field calculators, even Northern Light predictions all on this tiny device, it is amazing!

So, when I heard that a couple of friends, Dan Baumbach and Bret Edge had created an Arches National Park Photography Guide iPhone application, well I thought that was ingenious!  What a great idea – I could easily travel with all this information right in my shirt pocket!  A perfect marriage of information and technology.

Dan recently provided me a copy to review, and I gotta admit I love the product!  This application actually has a lot of advantages over a hard copy book because it is able to link to current information in real time such as weather forecasts, along with providing links to websites for local restaurants, hotels and campground – what a great resource!

The app is also packed with all kinds of useful information on Arches National Park, information useful to photographers such sunrise and sunset times along with an interactive map and information on backpacking, wildlife and wildflowers.  But the real meat to the application is the information on the different photo locations within Arches.  This information includes photos, maps, descriptions on how to get to the location, even the GPS coordinates.

It just so happens that I have spent a fair amount of time in Arches over the last two years, and have been to all the locations described in the app, and found the information accurate and concise.

The application cost $4.95 – much cheaper then most printed guides, and more valuable.  They have many more iFotoGuides planned for the future.

Wildflowers, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This winter I’m going to offer two weekend photo workshops in the beautiful Anza-Borrego Desert in Southern California.  You can read about all the details here:  Anza-Borrego Photo Tour / Workshop.

The timing of the announcement is perfect because over the last two days Borrego Springs has received almost an inch of rain, with more forecasted for the rest of this week.  An inch of rain my not sound like much, but that is a huge amount for this area.  This, coupled with some earlier storms all but assures us that there will be some wildflowers.  Even without wildflowers this is a wonderful area, but wildflowers can completely transform the desert.

Right after uploading the page, and before I had a chance to announce this workshop, someone spotted it on our website and has already signed up.  I only have permits for two weekends, and only for 5 people at a time, so these could fill quickly – and when they do, that will be it.  So check out the page and let me know if you have any questions!

In addition to this workshop, we also offer a number of Alaska photo tours.

Cameraman Buddy Squires, producer Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns in Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

I thought I would do a quick reminder that the Ken Burns series on our National Parks will begin airing Sunday evening on PBS.

As you may know, I helped out a bit when Florentine Films was filming in Kenai Fjords back in 2003 – they have been working on this film for sometime.  Ken, Dayton and Buddy were some of the most interesting people I have ever met, and could tell fascinating stories about the people they have met and places they had seen thanks to their past projects.  What doesn’t come across in the television interviews I have seen is Ken’s wonderful sense of humor – the group of us sure had a lot of fun, I don’t think I have ever laughed so much while out in the field!

I had the chance to see much of the Alaska portion of the coverage of this series and it was really well done.  I can’t imagine the research that must go into a project like this.  The series talked at length about people like Adolph Murie, Bradford and Barbara Washburn, Charles Sheldon and Joe Quigley – all people that are well known to Alaskans, but may be unfamiliar to most Americans.  I look forward to learning about similar people from other parts of the United States who may be unfamiliar to me.

I don’t think I’ll have a chance to watch it right now – we don’t get much in the way of TV right now, and we are kinda busy, but I do look forward to watching it once we are back in Alaska.  Here is the PBS site with much more information including times for The National Parks, Americas Best Idea.

Ken Burns pretending to be deeply engrossed by a beach stone as he hams it up for my camera. He was hilarious. At the time I was sorry my flash didn't fire, but in hindsight, I like the silhouette.

Camping in the Chuach National Forest, Alaska.

How do I handle the power needs for my digital camera and file storage on long trips away from electricity?  This was an ask Ron question brought up by two fellow blog’en photographer friends of mine Richard Wong and Gary Crabbe.  Both guys operate great blogs – blogs I read everyday, so if you have extra time, do check them out.  

It was a big concern back when I first went digital.  A 1 GB compact flash card cost $300 a piece, and the batteries for my Canon 1Ds were big and heavy, and didn’t seem to last very long.  With that setup, I was never away from electricity for more then 3 days, that was about the most I could manage.  I had 3 camera batteries and four 1 GB cards.  I was very selective when I photographed, taking more of a large format photographer approach.  In the evenings, I would edit and delete images in my tent.  I actually didn’t take a trip to Katmai because I didn’t know how to handle the power and storage needs, and with the type of wildlife photography you find in Katmai, you need a lot more of both.

Today it has almost become a non-issue.  I have two batteries for my 1Ds  III, they are small, light and last forever.  Likewise, compact flash is so much cheaper, that I can use it for storage.  I could easily go a week with my current gear.

I should add, even though I often take multi week trips in Alaska, it is rare for me to be away from electricity for more then 4 or 5 days at a time.  The rest of the time, I at least have access to my car or camper.  As long as I have access to a vehicle with a power point, I can charge anything.  I plug a 12V DC to AC Portable Inverter with DC Auto Power Outlet into the power point, and this gives me an outlet in which I can plug my camera battery charger, image storage device, or even my laptop into for charging.  Seem like I’m usually driving around with something plugged in and charging.

The above photo was from a “setup” camping trip.  Normally, I would never put my tent that close to a glacier feed river on a sunny summer day, but it sure made for a pretty setting. 

Culross Island, Prince William Sound, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

This is Troy Henkels in the pack raft on a beautful island in Prince William Sound.  I’m a bit tired of a brown and white world, and I’m now looking forward to the rich greens of summer!

Speaking of getting ready for summer – I have to admit, I’m a bit addicted to Steepandcheap.com.  Steep and Cheap is a bit like an online, outdoor gear version of QVC.  They only sell one item at a time, and the item is usally only up for 20 minutes or so, or until is sells out.  You never know what might appear, but it is usually at a killer price – so we find ourselves constantly checking back to see what we are missing out on – it is adicting!

PS:  Here is a site that feature numerous outdoor gear deals of the day.

Palm Trees at sunset, Newport Beach, California.

Let me start by saying, you shouldn’t get your legal advice from friends and fellow photographers.  Having said that, let me offer some advice. 

The place I turn to when I have questions is the Photographer’s Legal Guide by Carolyn Wright.  The book covers most of the legal issues one might encounter when dealing with photo business and photography issues such as copyrights, model releases, insurance and paperwork.  I think most photographers will find it very valuable. 

I have known Carolyn for a number of years now and consider her a friend – she is a wonderful person, and as a fellow photographer, she understands the industry and issues photographers face.  We have hired her on occasions when we needed large contracts reviewed, and also successfully used her for a copyright infringement suit – who better to hire then the person who wrote the book! 

In addition to the book, Carolyn also maintains a blog dedicated to photography legal issues;  Photo Attorney.  There is also a lot of valuable information on that site as well.

In addition to these resources, there is one bit advice I would like to offer to serious photographers; register your photos with the copyright office!  Having your images registered gives you far more options when pursuing infringements because you now can pursue statutory damages and attorney fees – in short, you can now pursue these issues with a much bigger hammer.  Want more details on how to register and what that means – well, it is all in the book!

A sunset at the Salton Sea California from this past winter.

I have received numerous emails and comments over the past year asking me to post bigger photos.  Really, I haven’t been ignoring those requests, it just wasn’t possible because my old theme was so narrow.  It was probably fine in the days of 800 x 600 monitor resolutions, but today, I just ended up with a narrow blog and a bunch of gray space on either side! 

So I had enough of my old theme, and there was no way I was going to try to modify it – heck, just adding the photo to the banner took me a day!    So this past weekend I went on a search for a new theme.  I won’t bore you with the details, but there are thousands and thousands of themes out there – and of course none of them are just right.  That is when I found Thesis;  About Thesis — Find out more about Thesis and the DIYthemes philosophy 

With Thesis, I had total control.  To change to three columns instead of my previous two -  I just selected the 3 column option in the drop down menu.  I wanted an extra wide column for my large photos – all I did was type in the desired width in a little box and bingo, it changes!  Not only does it change, but everything lines up perfectly – something that was a constant battle before.  Would I prefer the side bars on each side, with the content down the middle?  You guessed it, just another click.  Rotating photos at the top of the sidebar - painless!  Supposedly they have great support, fortunately I didn’t need it, but I did drop by the online forum which has almost six thousand users.

Had this theme been around when I originally set up my blog with my limited knowledge, I could have freed up days of work that I will never get back.

Now here is the drawback, and one that took me a few hours to get past;  it isn’t free.  The theme only costs $87, which is more then fair, but with so many free alternatives, I had to exhaust my search for the perfect free theme first. 

So now, I can post much bigger photos!

Since so many people receive the blog via email, I decided to limit this to small thumbnail sized images as to not over-load anyone’s email account.  I do have a link to a much larger size version next to each image.  Well, here it goes.

Just seeing this wild lynx in Denali National Park was the highlight of the year, having a photo from the experience made it an easy pick.

 The two Grizzly bears  in the fall Denali landscape don’t show as well in this small thumbnail, but are easy to see in the larger version. 

Horned Puffin, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.  These colorful birds were a blast to photograph.  This one made the list because I really liked the flowers above the bird.  I have some with mouths full of fish that were close honorable mentions.

Seeing the shorebird migration along the Copper River Delta, Alaska was another peak experience for the year.

A sow grizzly teaching a cub how to dig for clams, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.  We felt honored to watch such a tender moment between such powerful animals.

Desert Bighorn, Moab, Uath.   I really liked the setting for this Desert Bighorn image.

Wildflowers in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.  Given I spent almost two months chasing beautiful wildflowers, you know at least one will make this list!

Mountain biking the Slickrock Trail, Moab, Utah.  A fun place to photograph and ride!

Breeching Orca, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.  I had to have one from my own “back yard”!

Sea Otter, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.  He was too cute to leave off this list.

I really wanted to include a photo of the nesting great horned owls, or some of the rain forest grizzly bear images I worked so hard on near Seward this summer, or a few more desert landscapes, or even a desert tortoise, but I gotta stick to 10 – I hate to play favorites.

It is interesting to see 8 of the 10 are wildlife images as I did make a conscious effort to spend more time pursuing wildlife this year – photographing wildlife has always been something I really enjoyed, but in recent years, I had gotten away from that a bit.  Wildlife can be really tough because it can involve a lot of time, and can provide little in return.  It would have been interesting to see what the mix of images would have been from earlier years, or for next year!

And if that wasn’t enough, I did some side gambling on a prop bet with Daniel Negreanu! Now granted, I’m a gambling wimp, so it was only for a dollar, but still!

So how did this happen? We went to a new show at the Venetian called The Real Deal where 6 members from the audience get to join 2 famous pro poker players on stage, for a game of Texas Hold’em poker. Meanwhile, the rest of the audience plays along from their seats with some special computer device.

Since this is a brand new show that hasn’t been advertised much because they are still working out the kinks – we thought there was a pretty good chance one of us would get selected, and we were right!

The two pros were Doyle and his son Todd, and Daniel Negreanu was subbing in for the regular MC. At the opening, Daniel looked right past me and immediately picked Janine to go on stage with Todd and Doyle – I can’t blame him. Doyle was really nice to Janine – he even played a hand to help keep her at the table, but eventually her AK lost to a pocket pair.

Afterwards, we got to go backstage and meet the three players – they couldn’t have been nicer. Of course Daniel and Doyle had to make there share of Alaska and Palin jokes. I told Daniel I had to bet him on something, even if I lost, just so I could tell my poker friends in Alaska that I had a prop bet with him. He quickly came up with a fun game that involved Janine, a game I actually won. Daniel said you can even tell your friends I paid you as he pulled a buck from his pocket and handed it to me!

I gotta say Daniel was a perfect MC – very funny, and of course extremely knowledgeable – unfortunately, he isn’t usually the host, they usually have a professional comedian.

At the end of the evening, a member of the audience actually won the event beating Todd Brunson heads-up, and winning a $1,500 bracelet. This guy had been at the early show and saw what a unique opportunity this was, so bought tickets again for the late show and won.

So if you like poker, and find yourself in Vegas, check out the Real Deal. Of course, not everyone gets a chance to play directly with the pros, but they do pull members from the audience throughout the evening, so I would say at least 9 people got a chance to, and even if you don’t, it is still really fun.

I think this is the first post in about two years that didn’t include a photo – but it was a cool enough evening, that I think you will understand.

This was from last Saturday in the Chugach National Forest, about 12 miles from Seward, Alaska.  I used two graduated neutral density filters – one on the mountain, the other for the reflection.

Sensor dust can really show in images like this where you have a uniform color as you do with the sky, and when you are stopped down, because the increased depth of field helps to show your dust spots.

I have been asked on numerous occasions how I clean the digital sensor in my camera, but have been reluctant to write about it because frankly, it is a giant pain in the butt.  Well yesterday, I just tried a new product for cleaning my sensor, and I’m happy to report that many of my headaches have been eliminated!

In the past I purchased lint free wipes, wrapped them around a rubber spatula that I had carved into a shape to fit down into the sensor, I then would wrap the wipes around the spatula with tape, apply some Eclipse fluid and then would awkwardly wipe.  I would then check for dust by photographing the sky with the lens fully stopped down, and then would repeat, and repeat, and repeat… 

Eventually I would get the sensor clean after sometimes as much as an hour of work.  But for me, the hardest part was buying the Eclipse fluid.  Air restrictions prevent it from being shipped this way, and no one ships via ground to Alaska, so I would have to load up on it anytime I, or a friend drove to the Lower 48 and hoped it lasted.  I still remember the day I lost an entire bottle when the cap came off in the camper!

So yesterday I tried a sensor cleaning product made by Dust-Aid.  And no, Dust-Aid isn’t a Willy Nelson concert raising money for those with messy living rooms.   Dust-Aid was created by Ross Wordhouse out of frustration over the existing sensor cleaning methods.  By the way, Ross Wordhouse is also an outstanding photographer.

The product I tried was the Dust-Aid Dust-Wand Kit.  This method for cleaning the sensor is virtually the same as what I did in the past, but the tools are vastly improved.  The kit comes with three wands which fit into the camera far better then my spatula.  The included wipes are truly lint free, and have a clip that nicely attaches the wipes to the wand.  And it all comes in a convenient carrying case. 

But the biggest improvement is the cleaning fluid.  Dust-Aid uses a non-flammable, very fast evaporating fluid that can now be shipped via air.  The fact this arrived in the mail is going to be huge for Alaska, Hawaii and over seas photographers!

I won’t go into details in the cleaning process because Ross has an excellent little video on his website that walks you through the steps in easy to follow detail.  Yesterday I was able to clean my sensor in about 5 minutes – a big improvement!

Folks, this is why I don’t take pictures and you should use a tripod!  Even with Ron taking care of all the camera settings I still managed to take a soft picture.  Anyway, the real reason for this post is because I found this very funny.  I stepped out of the house for literally no more than 2 or 3 minutes and I walked back into the living room to find what you see in the picture.  Ron had completely torn the living room apart and set up shop.  He had just received his latest “toy” and was like a kid at Christmas.  I could not believe he had managed to totally rearrange the room and set up that fast.  It made me laugh. 

I stumbled upon this guy on my way to photograph sunset, look at the size of that camera!  It captures a 20 x 24 inch image.

 I was in a hurry, and I didn’t want to pester the guy as he set up, but I had to ask a few questions.

First I asked if I could take his picture, I guess the answer was obvious.  For film, he told me he was using print paper – I suppose they don’t make Velvia in this format.  The print must have incredible detail, although I don’t know how he would print it larger, that would be an expensive scan!

That was is a 1200mm lens; he estimated it was about the equivalent of 80mm for someone using 35mm film.  In other words, barely a little telephoto.  By comparison, I have been using 1200mm to photograph the tiny hummingbird nest on the last two posts.  It obviously isn’t intended for wildlife.

I wished I had asked the guy his name, but I probably would have forgot it.  Hopefully I will bump into him again while in Borrego, I’m sure he would be interesting to talk to, I would love to see a print from this camera and learn more about the guy. 

Here is the other side of the camera

I had always heard that best way to bring attention to a blog is to write something controversial.  Little did I know, my decisions to replace my digital darkroom with a PC instead of a Mac might be controversial, but 24 comments and a bunch of links later, it was by far my most active posting.  There actually was a lot of valuable feedback in that post from many people and I really appreciate it. 

So now that I have used my new Falcon Northwest digital darkroom for a few weeks, I thought I better provide an update to that threaed.  And since I’m sitting on a plane – what a perfect time to write!

First off the computer was packaged beautifully, and arrived in great condition.  They could have saved a couple of trees – it arrived in 5 separate boxes – and I didn’t even buy a monitor!

In one of the boxes, was a nice large case with all my documentation including specifications and test and benchmark results for my exact system.  It was very complete!

Attached to the side of the computer was one of those diagrams that comes with most computers describing what each of the ports on the front and back is used for.  The difference was, mine didn’t have a lot of ports that included the word “optional”.   No my diagram was exactly for my computer and showed the exact layout of my computer.  The top of the form was even personalized with my name on it – cool touch.

The case its self was beautiful – it was a very solid, metal case with heavy metal doors – I could park our car on this thing. 

The computer, not surprisingly is very fast, and the entire experience with Falcon Northwest has been a joy.  I still can’t get over how nice it is to call them up and have a knowledgeable human answering the phone and questions!

Now to my biggest concern, and that was my decision to opt for the 64 bit version of

At the same time I purchased my computer, I also purchased an 8 port switch to add to my router – I really thought I was looking for trouble adding these things all at once, but that is what I did.  I connected my old Windows XP computers, and my new computer running

My next concern was drivers for my existing monitors, printers, monitor calibration devices etc.  I went on-line, downloaded the latest drivers for all those devices, and so far everything has worked perfectly.

I had forgotten about our off-site SimpleTech external hard drives – we brought those home for updating before this trip, and even they were plug and play. 

I also had concerns about some of my software since I use a number of programs created  by basically a one person operation including IMatch, BreezeBrowser and FotoBiz and FotoQuote.  So far they have also worked without a hitch.

I might add, I like the

So in short, I’m feeling pretty good about my decision.  Not a single crash or hang-up – maybe that has to do with the requirement of for signed drivers, I’m not sure, but so far, so good!

Well, it is year end, and we are in that position of either spend it, or give it to Uncle Sam – so we are spending baby! 

With today’s large image files, my old Pentium computer just isn’t cutting it anymore, so we made the logical decision to get Janine a new computer – yeah that’s right, Janine.  Since she does all the important parts of the office work, it is fitting I get her computer hand me downs, and she gets the screaming machine.  Actually, Janine does a lot of the image adjustment work.

 Anyway, I have been anguishing over this decision for the last couple of weeks as I researched and read countless forums, reviews etc., so I thought I would share my thought process as it may be beneficial to other photographers in a similar situation – I know I found similar write-ups valuable.  Janine thinks I’m an over-researcher , and she is right.  Warning, this may get long!

Mac vs. PC

First I had to make the Mac vs. PC decision.  I have used PCs since the very beginning, but it seems like I know a lot of photographers who have switched to Macs in the past year, so I figured I better take a close look at this decision.  It makes sense, Macs now have Intel processors, and with an extra piece of software you can now run all your old PC software.  They look nice, and everyone raves how easy and reliable they are.  As I worked my way around the Mac Pro website I felt right at home – the hardware looked very familiar, it is the same stuff you find in a PCs these days.  But then came the surprise; the Mac Pro cost about $1,500 more then a similar spec’d high end PC, and this doesn’t include the cost of changing software.

The base systems for both cost about the same, but Apple is really proud of their add-ons.  When you add 8 GB of ram and raid capability the cost difference is really magnified.  My friends like to tell me how easy Macs are, but then in the next breath say that the only cost effect way to buy a Mac is to get a bare bones system and add the extras yourself.  To me, that didn’t sound easy. 

So it seems to me the real difference between the two these days is the operating system, and I think by all accounts the Mac’s is far superior.  I had to ask myself is the operating system worth an extra $1,500?  Now many of my friends complain about blue screens and locked up computers with their PCs - if that was my experience, for an extra $1,500 I would switch as well.  But really, our PCs have been very stable and reliable, I really don’t have a complaint.  Couple this with the added hassle of changing and learning new software, and I decided to stick with a PC.

What Brand?

I think one of the reason PCs get such a bad wrap is because the market is flooded with really inexpensive computers full of cheap components – think Dell Dimension.  I was only going to consider a systems with top notch components, and North American tech support.  I looked long and hard at the Dell Precisions.  The Precsion costs a lot more then the Dimension because it is made with better components and does have dedicated North American support, but Dell’s reputation isn’t that great right now.

The more time I spent researching the top PC companies, one name kept coming up over and over, and that was the Medford, Oregon based company Falcon Northwest.  When it came to customer support and performance, they seemed to be consistently ranked well ahead of everyone else.  I hadn’t heard of them, but I understand they have been very popular with the young gamers looking for very high-end machines.  In fact you can get them with all kinds of custom paint jobs – something I might have thought was really cool when I was younger.  Falcon Northwest seems to be expanding their marketing efforts to other high demand users such as digital darkrooms.

There were two things I really liked about Falcon Northwest.  First was their warranty.  Three years on parts and labor, and the first year even includes overnight service – basically if they can’t fix the problem over the phone, they will have an overnight carrier pick up the system at their expense, fix it, and then overnight it back to you!  They obviously have a lot of confidence in their components and testing!  The Mac had a 90 day warranty – three years was another add-on at an additional $250.

The other thing I really liked about Falcon Northwest - every time I had a question as I contemplated my purchase, I picked up the phone and called.  My call was always answered within two rings by a very knowledgeable human being.  No voice mail, not even a receptionist – a lot of companies can learn from this.

What version of Windows?

None of these choices are easy anymore.  Windows XP was very tempting – it has been rock solid for us, and I liked the idea of sticking with a known quantity.  It is interesting to note that Falcon Northwest, Dell and most others now offer XP as an option. 

Due to all the complaints, Vista didn’t have much appeal, except for the 64 bit version.  Certainly going forward, 64 bit is the future.  The new Mac operating system is 64 bit, and I’m sure all future Microsoft offerings will be as well.  They should have made Vista in only the 64 bit flavor.  A 64 bit operating system has a lot of appeal.  For one, I would be able  use more the 4 GB of ram – valuable with big photo files.  In addition, it is just a matter of time before Photoshop and other software is offered in 64 bit versions – this should offer additional performance benefits.

 The big drawback, the lack of 64 bit drivers.  Not only the lack of drivers, but if it isn’t an actual Windows approved driver, it won’t install,  period.  There isn’t an “install anyway” option you get with the other MS operating systems.  From what I have read, many, if not most PC problems are due to poorly written drivers.  It sounds like MS is tired of getting the blame for other people’s poor software, and this is a way to exert more control.  It is interesting, with Vista 64 anyway, Microsoft is closing the door to the barn ever so slightly, while Apple seems to be opening it.  Time will tell, but I wonder if Apple will begin experiencing PC type problems - things like viruses for example. 

I checked my printers, fax, network storage and was able to find 64 bit drivers for everything except my Nikon scanner which we can keep attached to the older (my) computer.  By the way, Nikon came out with Vista drivers last week, so hopefully a 64 bit version isn’t far off.  So given that, I made the choice to go with 64 bit.  Truthfully, this decision has me the most concerned – as time goes on, I think I will be glad.

The Hardware

This was the relatively easy part.  Thanks to 64 bit, I could go with 8 GBs of ram, this will be great for those large panoramics.  I went with a mid-speed quad-core Intel processor, PhotoShop with its multi thread capabilities should really shine here.  I also went for two mirrored (raid 1) 500 GB hard drives.  Losing a system drive is a giant pain, I really like having the redundancy. 

So there you have it for what it is worth.  I should point out, if it isn’t already evident, I’m certainly not a computer expert – I know some readers here can run circles around me with their knowledge.  I should have this bad boy in a few weeks – I will report back with my experience then.

If you read the My Excuse post, you will know we have been working hard to remodel our home – new paint, carpet, blinds, etc.  The hardest, but most rewarding part was the two weeks we spent on the kitchen.  In stock cabinets, vinyl floor and Formica counters won’t get it showcased in Sunset Magazine, but it is sure a huge improvement for us!  Here is the end result:

My excuse for the lack of blog activity.

We have decided to tackle a “small” remodel project.  We have a little, old house with a wonderful view, and thought new cabinets, paint, carpet etc would really spruce it up.  Well we are working hard to get it done by Christmas!

Normally right now I would be processing images from our last trip, but that will have to wait a bit – currently we are just taking care of existing business as we “camp” in our house.

If you are looking for some last minute gift ideas, you might consider our 2008 Alaska Calendar.  We don’t actually have any left, but I learned last week that ANHA still has a few left.  Here is a link to the calendar at their on the on-line store; ANHA.  They sell for $10.

My sister says Alyeska received another 15 inches of snow last night – we are off to a good start this winter!  The skate skiing in Seward right now is awesome.  That sure makes it easier to be leaving that nice 80 degree desert weather.

 So why no photo today?  Well in addition to two days of driving, and the bad weather, I dropped my camera and damaged my main workhorse lens – the Canon 24-105 IS.  This brings me to Hunts Camera.  I called them today as soon as I realized my lens wouldn’t work, and they have a new one being Fedex this afternoon with Saturday delivery direct to our campground!  This is the kind of service I have always received from Hunt’s, and why I recommend them to others.  My salesperson there, Gary Farber checks in with me every few months and is always helpful and friendly.  I got the chance to meet Gary at NANPA in Palm Springs this past winter.  So if you need a camera store with great service and prices, call Gary at 1-800-221-1830, ext 2323.