You see, it’s a given that there are limitations to the “point and shoot” grade of cameras.  You simply don’t have the same degree of flexibility – no changing out lenses, a smaller sensor, more inherent noise, etc., etc. etc.  Yet, when you take an SLR, there’s a lot more gear involved, even if you “go light”.  At a minimum, you’re likely to have a camera body, a lens, a flash, and a tripod.  So, which do you do?  Thankfully, with the advancement of the “P&S” grade cameras, the differences between SLR’s and the “P&S” category has narrowed substantially.

So, the question becomes:  which P&S is a good alternative for the SLR when you just want to take something and go, yet still have the malleability to capture the kind of images you want?  Now, if you ask ten different photographers this same question, you will likely get ten different sets of cameras in varying degrees of priorities.  That being said, a short list of high-end P&S cameras is always helpful to consider.  Here’s the short list I picked:

There were some others I considered including a few from Panasonic, Sony, and Olympus, but in looking at the specs of those, all had an interchangeable lens feature, which makes them more SLR-like than most P&S counterparts, so I removed them from consideration.  Here’s the criteria I am using to consider cameras for inclusion in a P&S review section:

1.  True point and shoot design (no interchangeable lenses)

2.  Cost should be less than the entry level SLR for that vendor

3.  Raw or sRaw capacity is probably going to be a requirement…most high end P&S cameras I’ve seen have this feature.

These are of course, just subjective takes on which P&S cameras stand head and shoulders above the rest, and the criteria to classify ones for inclusion as “true P&S cameras”.  As they come through the doors, I’ll share thoughts and feedback with you, but for the time being, I’d also like to hear what others think of these selections.

Can a P&S really stand toe to toe with an SLR?  Is it even worth looking at?  What about the cameras themselves?  Are there others that you wish were included?  Do you own any of these?  What have your own thoughts and experiences been?  Sound off in the comments, and I’ll see what I can to do add others to this roster for upcoming review!  In the meantime, happy shooting, and we’ll be back tomorrow!

Whenever I get these kinds of messages, it’s a sign to me that things need to be cleaned up.  I’ve installed too many trial programs for testing – my working drive is getting cluttered.  I’ve not re-booted in a few days.  We all know the drill, and we all have our own work flow on how we do this kind of maintenance and optimization.  That’s a funny word “optimize”.  It’s kind of like the CSI word “enhance” that they use for zooming in and adding detail on grainy satellite images.  It just sounds kind of corny.  I think Windows even used it when it was doing an update after I cleaned out a few things.

So, today, I thought I’d share a weekly suggested work flow for doing these kinds of optimizations on your computer.  This is not set in stone, and if you miss something, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s a starting point:

Monday

Operating System and Application Updates – Are all your applications up to date?  Most have a “Check for updates” feature built into the menu system, and many can be set to automatically check periodically, but it never hurts to check on your own – you may find bug fix updates that aren’t part of the regular ones.  The same holds true for your cameras – check vendor websites for possible firmware updates, because cameras can’t check on their own (at least not yet)!

Tuesday

Virus/spyware scans – Your computer does have some kind of security measures in place, right?  Well, it can help to use them periodically just to make sure nothing slipped past you unwittingly.  Trial software can often include spammy things and who knows what gets added in those!  Run the deepest scan (you can run quick scans from really intensive scans with some software like McAfee and Symantec) on Tuesday, and start it just before you go to bed – it will run over the course of the night and when you get up in the morning, it should be done.

Wednesday

Here we go, it’s time to “optimize” things.  Pick a day (mine is Wednesday) to run the optimization tasks.  Things like defragmenting your hard drive and removing trial versions of software are part of this.  I also use this day to go through my bookmarks and favorites and re-organize everything (I add stuff all the time).  I’ll remove stuff I’ve not visited in a while, or drag shortcuts into folders within the bookmarks.  I also take the few minutes after this is done to export a copy of the bookmarks and shortcuts to a backup copy in case disaster strikes.

Thursday

Don’t forget your online presence.  Most people have an online presence these days.  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even your own website are just a few examples of our online “footprint”.  Pick a day and go through each of these accounts, taking the time to update things.  Reply to followers comments and questions on Twitter (although you really should do this one more often).  Post an update or two on Facebook of what you’ve been doing for the last week.  Update your LinkedIn connections.  You are adding new contacts to your network more often than you think, and it just makes sense to tap all these resources together.  Plus, people like to stay in touch, and giving updates lets people know about what is new with you, and ways they can connect with you.  Don’t neglect your website either.  Out taking pictures?  Upload a new gallery of photos.  Even if there’s nothing of “show quality”, it can help to keep people engaged with you.

Friday

I saved the most important one for last, and that is the weekly BACKUP!  I’ve talked about this a lot, and cannot reiterate enough the importance of regular backups.  You may not have much change over the course of a week, which is why things like incremental and differential backups (if you are really into the geek factor) can be useful.  But still, even without the geek factor – are you prepared to lose the entire week of projects and work?  Make a backup somehow, somewhere.  The peace of mind alone is worth the 10-20 minutes it takes to do this.

So, there you have it, a weekly optimization schedule for you to try.  It can seem insurmountable to tackle all these things at once, because for most of us, it is!  If you break it down though into smaller tasks, each can be done with minimal impact on your other activities, and can save you many headaches down the road.

Since we’re on the subject of optimizing things – the blog also has gone through some updates as well.  I’ve cleaned things up a little here (part of my Thursday routine), and the pages should load a lot faster now.  You will also notice in the far right sidebar a list of “related posts”.  This will bring up a selection of related content that may be of interest to you.  Check it out and feel free to peruse the Archives as well.

There’s also the Online Photography Test, which remains a popular page – have you taken the test recently?  Stop over and give it a whirl!  There’s lots of content on the blog now (3 years worth anyway) and many people have found it useful!  I’ve also introduced some sponsors from Google and Amazon that show up as related material on various pages and most archives, so if you see something useful, follow the white rabbit – the cost is the same to you, but it helps support the blog!

To wrap things up for this week – don’t forget the February contest closes tonight at midnight, so be sure you get your pictures in.  Only about 18 hours left (as of the writing of this post), so don’t delay, enter today!  Happy shooting everyone, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you back here again on Monday!

So, what can I afford?  Well, believe it or not, the significant other has asked for a camera for Christmas!  That’s right – I am winning her over, she’ll become a member of the dark side soon.  So, in the spirit of the Christmas lists that I started last week with cards, this week, I am suggesting one of three different price buster point and shoots.  One actually is not a Canon camera!  My picks for consumer P&S cameras this year are:

• The Canon G10
• The Lumix LX3
• and the Canon A590

Okay, so the G10 isn’t exactly entry level, but it’s super sweet!  The blogo-sphere seems to have settled down about the in-camera processing that the Lumix does to correct for barrel distortion and chromatic abberation, so the LX3 is back in people’s good graces.  The A590 also made my list primarily because of the feature set it has relative to it’s price (it comes in at just a hair over $100!)

So, when combined with the list from last week, there are now six items on my Holiday Guide!  I’ll get another four added here soon to give you a full top ten, but for those keeping score, here’s what I have thus far:

1. Personalized Gift Cards
2. Memory Cards
3. Christmas Cards (share the holiday cheer on a budget)
4. Canon G10
5. Lumix LX3
6. Canon A590

In other photography news, I am working on the photography site some more to really get a new look in place and I’ve got a new header to set the tone.  Feel free to stop over and take a gander.  Then, come back and tell me what you think!  I am listening in the comments, on the Twitter, and via email.  Don’t forget to vote in the poll – we’re on pace to shatter the previous record!

That’s it for today – I’ll be back tomorrow with the weekly audio podcast series, so be sure to stop in for that.  Until then, happy shooting!

Rituals are an important part of many cultures and belief systems. Yet rituals can also be patterns of behavior. We drive the same way to work every day, we tend to eat similar meals from one week to the next, and we do certain things each and every day, like brushing our teeth, taking a shower (hopefully anyway!), and a host of others. Well, just like other rituals, many of us become very fastidious about our work flow. We color manage things, we duplicate images, back them up, and save in multiple locations. Yet I’ve not seen anyone really talk about establishing rituals over cleaning their gear. In that area, I feel that I am something of a loner, because I do clean my gear in a very ritualistic pattern. It may be overkill to some, while to others it may not be enough. Nevertheless, cleaning our gear is something we should all consider making a part of our recurring activities.

Tomorrow is the second Friday of the month, and since I’ve set that date (just an arbitrary date, no specific logic behind the date other than I didn’t have anything else “scheduled” for that date at the time I came up with this) as my monthly camera cleaning date. I clean every piece of equipment I own. It takes a few hours, but that way I do maintain a regular schedule of maintenance for all this gear. So, today I am sharing my cleaning schedule with you.

My Gear Cleaning Ritual

1. Part One – Wipe Down This can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours depending on amount of crap in my bag! I first take the battery out of camera and insert in charger. While camera battery is charging to full capacity I use lint free lens clothes (you can get a 12-pack from WalMart for $1) to wipe down the camera body, the lens casings, my CF cards, my flash cards, everything! Then I take out all the velcro dividers from my camera bag. With the bag empty I use canned air and spray out my camera bag. Then I wipe everything down with a only slightly damp paper towel. I’ll also pick any fuzzies I can see off my velcro tabs.
2. Part 2 – Glass cleaning This takes about 20 minutes, depending on whether certain lenses need multiple swipes. I Use the Eclipse/PecPad/Sensor Swab kit for all my detailed cleaning. First I remove the lens caps (front and rear, and dust them off with my canned air. Setting these aside I take a PecPad out and dab a few drops of the Eclipse solution on it. In a light circular motion I wipe from the center of the lens to the edge and swoop it away in a fluid motion. I then return the caps to the glass.
3. Part 3 – Card clearing and formatting I lightly tap the CF cards with the holes facing down and stack them label side up by my card reader. After each is tapped, I run them through my computer, copying any images off into a folder titled “Unsorted”. Once the content is safely moved, I then format the cards from the OS command prompt (for me it,s format E: /FAT32)
4. Part 4 – Air cleaner I take my Giottos Rocket Blower and with battery compartment open I pump twice into chamber, and then close. I then turn the camera sensor side down, uncap and repeat in that chamber with the blower. I recap the body then and lay it sensor side down on a pre-placed static bag.
5. Part 5 – Sensor Cleaning I prep the sensor swab according to instructions with firm tight folds. I take the now fully charged batter, insert in the chamber, turn the camera on and move the menu to sensor cleaning mode, flip the camera over and lay it down on the bag. Then I dab two drops of Eclipse onto the edge, uncap the body and angle the wand to 45 degrees, placing the edge against the sensor. and in one motion move it from the first edge to the far edge. Without lifting the wand, I then shift the wand to the opposite 45 degree angle, slide it up and align the top edge of the PecPad to the top edge of the lens and in a single light motion, slide it back across the top of the sensor mirror. Using the same fluid motion I then lift the swab off the sensor, replace the body cap with my other hand and set the swab down on the static bag. I then turn the camera back over, and power down.
6. Part 6 – Accessories check I take the now mostly de-charged camera/battery combo and insert my CF cards back into the camera. All cards are formatted in camera. Once the formats are complete, I then insert back into computer one last time and copy the low res contact info image back onto all CF cards. The battery is then taken back out and recharged again. (I do have spares too that get charged, and I take this opportunity to also charge all AA’s and stuff back in my camera bag. I’ll check my notebook for enough paper, my pen for ink, flashlight for batteries, business cards in front pocket of bag, ensure I have at least 5 model release forms, and I’ll wipe down my Krages card and cheat sheet (two laminated sheets of info I keep in my bag).
7. Part 7 – Repack Reassemble Velcro dividers and insert everything back into my bag
8. Part 8 – Tripod Maintenance Take legs off tripod and wipe everything down there. Remove all quick release plates and do the same. I then re-assemble the tripod and tighten down all the legs again.
9. Part 9 – Inventory List Print out checklist inventory and insert in camera bag (when travelling).
10. Part 10 – Relax Drink an ice cold beverage!

So, which of these rituals do you include in your gear maintenance schedule? Did I miss anything? Does anything I am doing sound weird or wrong? What do you think? Share your cleaning schedule in the comments or via email: jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com In the meantime:

• Happy Friday 13th
• Happy Fathers Day Weekend
• and Happy Shooting (watch those apertures!)