I was importing 100 photos (1.44GB) off a SanDisk Extreme IV Compact Flash 45MB/s via a SanDisk FW800 flash card reader. All photos were copied to my internal drive via the Lightroom import interface and then added to my library. As part of the import process they were renamed, applied a developing setting metadata a few keywords, and standard sized previews were rendered.

The Results

HDD

4min 50 seconded to import and 1min 10 seconds to render previews.  Total Time: 6min

SSD

1min 25 seconds to import and 1min 25 seconds to render previews.  Total Time: 2min 50seconds

SSD in Lightroom 3 (I have been waiting to upgrade.  I used the demo for this test)

1min 20 seconds to import and 1min 22 seconds to render previews.  Total Time: 2min and 43 seconds.

HDD + External Backup (old 5400rpm WD Passport Drive attached via USB 2.0)

6min 25 seconds to import and 2min 20 seconds to render previews.  Total Time: 8min 45 seconds

SSD + External Backup (old 5400rpm WD Passport Drive attached via USB 2.0)

2min 30 seconds to import/backup and 1min 15 seconds to render previews.  Total Time: 3min and 45 seconds.

SSD + External Backup (7200rpm 500GB Drive attached via USB 2.0)

2min 27 seconds to import/backup and 1min to render previews.  Total Time: 3min and 27 seconds.

Conclusion

• The SSD was 100% faster then the HDD during the import stage of each test.
• There was no speed increase during the rendering stage but I believe that is because the CPU handles this process.
• Using Lightroom 3 showed no significant speed increase during the test.
• USB 2.0 kills any speed increase the 7200rpm drive has over the much slower 5400rpm WD Passport drive.

When my grandfather passed away this winter I received all of his camera gear, and one of the items was a well preserved Contax IIIa Camera with the original leather case. The camera itself looks beautiful, the metal still has a bright shine, and the leather case is in perfect condition. After doings some google searches I found a user manual for the camera and loaded in my first and probably last roll of film threw it.

The manual did not explain the controls of the camera very well and after using some WD-40 to loosen up some of the dials and some playing around with it I was able to figure the controls out. The few features I did like were the built-in photoelectric exposer meter, F/2-F/22 Lens, timer mode, bulb mode, and the 1/1250 shutter speed. The features I did not like was the max film speed that could be used with the in camera meter was 400 ASA, weight of the camera, and the lens. The lens is a 50 mm I believe and it was just never what I wanted for the situation I was shooting.

Overall the camera is not going to be one I take out very often, and will probably sit on my shelf as a collector item. Below is a photo of the camera along with a few of the photos I shot with it.

The lens which is a 28mm is set at F/11 and shutter speed is around 1/125th of a second. The camera is not really a panoramic but instead gives an extreme crop to the image to give it the look of being panoramic. Upon research of the camera I found out it originally came free with a subscription to Time magazine.

Also most of the images seem to be the sharpest in the middle and become more soft as it moves towards the edges.

For only $2 it is a great find and I can’t wait to try shooting some redscale film through it.

I have never been a big fan of Photoshop. Never used the program for more then raw editing or putting together a few sequences. Needless to say I was really stoked once I learned about Lightroom, and just about totally abandoned Photoshop and Bridge from my workflow. With the arrival of lightroom 2 the need for Photoshop in my workflow has become even less important.

This was mainly because of the Localized Adjustment Tools that were added in the new release. What took multiple masks, layers, and editing in PS now takes 5-10 minutes in LR.

Here is a great example.

This is the raw photo straight out of camera.

Camera Raw

As you can see it needs a good amount of work. His body is on the verge of being blown out, and the wall, tree, and grass is quite flat. This photo should have been a throw away, but we will use it for this example.

Now here is the Photoshop edited version that took about 30-40 minutes to finish.

PS

With masks for his shirt, pants, and face, along with the wall, grass, and tree, it can start to take up a bit of time. Then there had to be levels, curves, and a few other tricks done before the image could be called complete. Even after the work is done, it still looks a little odd and over worked.

Now here is the LR edited version that took about 5 minutes of work with the Localized Adjustment Tools (that I barely know how to use.)

LR

This version has a much more natural feel, and is overall a much better edit in my option, it took less then 1/4th the time as the Photoshop version, was non-deconstructive to the photo, and was all done and saved in RAW.

When time is money, why take 30-40 min with PS when you can do about the same thing in LR for much less?

What looks better to you?

It’s the OhMiBody Vibrator reasonably priced at $69 for every line of the iPod.

What Color?

I was in complete disbelieve when I got the e-mail in my RSS box from maclife.com, so I went to check it out and found a link to the products site. The site is nicely laid out, and I was happy to see they offered many other products, and gift baskets. The product comes with an adaptor, so you can plug in headphones and the vibrator.

As the music plays the vibrator keeps the beat for you as it moves, and shakes about. As a bonus for any guys who are wondering if they should get the vibrator for themselves or lover, there is a sexy video of a woman, using the vibrator, to convince them this is how their lover will use it. Here are some of the screen shots (video).

Warm Up

Feel the Music

She Likes

She Cums, Toy Falls

Face You Will Never See

Mac life gave this product a “Solid” rating, but my question is who used it to decide this product was solid, and was it male or female? All in all I wonder if this product will just fade away, or will it cause mass hysteria, and have Christian mothers all over the world, burning their children’s iPods.

So on this blog I’m also going to highlight some of the products I purchase.

I recently dropped my 500GB external hard drive and thought it was broken. So I went to Newegg and with help from Jason Wager of plzthxbai I found a new 500GB drive and dual-bay external enclosure. To my pleasant surprise when I added in my old drive that had fallen to the floor it still worked, giving me access to a total of 1TB of backup, and saving me the money from buying a new drive. I set up one of the two drives as my Time Machine, to back up my computer and photos off one of the WD Passport drives I own, and the second of the two drives as a manual back up of photos again off the WD Passport and storage of music, movies, ext.

When both of the drives are in casing it weighs quite a bit (case empty is 4lbs). Enough that you could break some bones in your foot if you were to drop it. When it is plugged in, it’s almost completely silent and the fan is also undetectable when turned on. One negative is that it only comes in USB, and they make an eSATA/USB but it is listed as a RAID server, and quite a bit more expensive. A firewire 400 or 800 option on the model I bought would have been a nice choice.

All in all I am very happy with the purchase, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to do some simple backups or create a small RAID.

Here is a photo of the drive and my computer.

*click photo to go big*

The external drive and my Mac.