Hey Canon, how about updating your camera utilities to support OS X Lion?

I confess I am not a big user of the utilities provided by Canon for interaction with their cameras with two key exceptions.  I used the EOS utility extensively and CameraWindow from time to time.  Apple released OS X Lion a couple of months back and the developer cycle went on for a long while prior to that.  I am dismayed by how little action Canon has taken to update their camera utilities to work with OS X Lion.  Any photographer who buys a new Macintosh or upgrades an existing one to OS X Lion is going to be SOL when it comes to these two utilities, and perhaps others. Canon had printer drivers ready with near immediacy and they work fine.  Why not the camera utilities?  It appears that the apps check the OS version and make the distinction that since the number is not 10.6.x or lower that the app won't run.  Unless Canon has done something entirely odd in the core code the apps probably will run just fine under Lion.  For example, tethering in Adobe Lightroom works fine with either of the DSLRs I use, without any update.  Now if the core code does something odd, I could understand a nominal delay, and of course I also understand the pressures being felt in Japan still following the spring disasters.

However, Canon released an update to the EOS Utility on August 11, 2011, well past the release of OS X 10.7 and even the last service pack for OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and the new version still does not work with either of them.  There are third party tools available at what I consider to be high cost and of dubious stability that provide similar functionality to EOS Utility but I do not consider then viable alternatives (the most popular locks up hard when you click Preview - making it mostly useless).

While other areas of the Canon organization have excelled in keeping their utilities OS current, the DSLR group is sluggish from this user's perspective.  Since I can find no way to interact with Canon directly, I am hopeful that someone in their organization will highlight this concern to someone who cares.

Creating a Profile for your Camera for Lightroom and Photoshop

In an earlier post, I wrote about using the Color Munki system to create display and print profiles so you can get accurate colour for editing and printing.  One step I've added that is more subtle is to create a profile for each of my DSLR cameras.  It's pretty simple to do and relatively inexpensive.

When I do product shots, it's really important that the product colours are right.  One way to do this is to use a colour meter and make a custom white balance and that works pretty well in fact.  An alternative is to build a profile for your camera to use in your editor.  The way I do this is to use the ColorChecker Passport from X-Rite.

The process is very quick.  Shoot a picture of the ColorChecker Passport Classic Target in RAW and then bring it into your computer and convert it to DNG format.  Then launch the ColorChecker Passport Camera Calibration software and drop the image onto the tool.  It auto discovers the ColorChecker in the image and creates a custom profile for your camera.  You can then load that profile in Lightroom or Photoshop to streamline your workflow.  You still have all the creative control, but you are starting with the image set up to match your camera's RAW output's colour balance.  I found that it was pretty close to the Canon Standard setting in Lightroom for the 5D Mk II, but there were differences.  I like to include the ColorChecker Passport Classic Target and White Balance Target in the first image in a studio series or when I have time to do so.  That way, I know at least where I am starting from.  Please note that like other custom white balance tools, the profile you create is accurate for the light you are using when you take the image including the Color Checker Passport.  If the light changes substantially or you change your source, you'll need a new profile.  Also if you use studio lights as opposed to studio flash, remember that the colour temperature of these lights changes over time.

Not expensive and while not an absolute requirement, you will be able to really get the image from your camera to be interpreted correctly.  Even you only shoot JPEGs, the ColourChecker Passport can really help you get the white balance correct.

Canon Pixma Pro 9000 Mk II - Getting the Red Out REDUX - Color Munki is the Key

A while back I posted about using the Canon Photoprint software or letting the printer manage the colour to get accurate (or less red) prints from the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 series.  Those solutions were cheap.  This one is not but I think it is worth the investment if you want accurate prints (and an accurate display for that matter).

X-rite makes the Color Munki Photo system.  I call it a system, they don't but it really does work that way.  Color Munki provides three key services.  First, it creates a calibration for your monitor.  Second it creates an ICC profile for the paper of your choice on your printer.  Third it allows you to match your display profile with your printer profile.

Display Profiling

There are many display profilers out there.  Most want you to adjust brightness and contrast before starting but many displays give you very limited control over these settings.  Most use some kind of colour banding and intelligent eye to create a display profile.  I used the Huey Pro for years and it was pretty good, except I could never get my Dell 30" display to match my Dell 24" display which was really annoying because they are side by side.  I lived with it but was mostly unhappy with the difference between what I saw on the screen and what came back from the lab.  The Color Munki takes things a step further by doing colorimetry.  The very first time I ran the display calibration, both monitors resulted in identical representations of the same image.  Finally I was seeing what I would get from a professional printer and I was also seeing the same thing on the two displays.  The process is fast, incredibly simple and as I calibrate my displays every two weeks, extraordinarily consistent.  I noticed a very sharp difference between the Huey Pro calibrations and the Color Munki calibrations.  Color Munki for the win!

Printer Profiling

To really get the best out of your printer, inks and papers, you need a proper profile.  Paper vendors provide ICC profiles for their paper that you can download and while it looks like a pain to do this for every paper you might use, it's a big part of getting an amazing image.  Most of the pros I talk to who do print themselves prefer the Epson printers.  The images are incredible, but my own experience is that the print head clogs up if you aren't using it all the time, cleaning it is very difficult and involves disassembly and may not help.  After dumpstering an Epson R1800 because its head was clogged and discovering loads of complaints about even the current devices, I went Canon.

I started with the Pixma Pro 9000.  When two of my cameras were stolen and I had to replace them, I took advantage of Canon rebate programs and got a 9000 Mk II and a 9500 Mk II.  The difference is substantial.  The 9000 Mk II prints very quickly and uses dye based inks.  The 9500 Mk II takes much longer to produce output and uses pigment based inks called LUCIA.  It has more ink tanks and is ideal for archive quality black and white images.  That's not to say that the 9000 Mk II doesn't do a good job on black and white but the 9500 Mk II really is a rock star in this regard.

If I use only Canon ink and Canon paper, I can let the printer manage colour and get pretty darn good output.  But I wanted to use different papers and whenever I let Colorsync on the Mac manage colour, my prints would be too red even with the vendor supplied ICC profile.  As you can imagine, this ticked me off something fierce.  Bring on the Color Munki.

The creation of a printer profile is not quick and consumes two sheets of the paper you want to build a profile for.  The first pass the software produces a series of stripes (see figure) that you then scan over with the Color Munki colorimeter.  It then constructs a second special print page that you print and scan as in the first step.  Once complete you have a custom profile for your printer and that particular paper type.

To see if it actually made a difference I took the same image and made three prints on the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 Mk II.  Image #1 was printed from Adobe Lightroom and I let the printer manage colour, printing on Canon Glossy Photo Paper.  It was a nice print.  Image #2 was printed from Adobe Lightroom and I used the paper profile supplied by Canon and let Colorsync manage the colour.  Colorsync is the profile manager in OS X on the Macintosh.  I don't do Windows but I am sure that there is a similar ICC service on that platform.  The image was sharp but WAY too red.  Absolute crap.  Image #3 was printed from Adobe Lightroom using the ICC profile created by Color Munki for that same paper on that printer.  The image was awesome.  It looked better overall than letting the printer manage colour by enough of an edge that I would do things this way always. and so much better than what image 2 looked like, you would swear someone has spilled red ink all over the second image in comparison.

I'm not alone in finding issues letting Colorsync manage colour on Canon Pixma Pro printers.  Plenty of complaints on the internets.  For me, that problem is now solved.  I've built profiles for Ilford Pearl and Hahnemulle Rag and love the output.  Inkpress advises to use the Canon profiles and their metallic gloss is stunning using the Color Munki profile.

Matching Printer and Display

You get what you see.  Nuff said.

The Color Munki Photo was not cheap, in the $500 range.  If you don't need or want to calibrate your printer (you like the images you get, and using ICC profiles doesn't give you junk) maybe it's overkill for you.  If you want want display profiling there are less expensive alternatives but having owned the Huey Pro and tried a friend's Spyder 3, I think that I would go Color Munki regardless.  If you do want to make your own profiles for your paper and your printer, the Color Munki is the tool you want and need.

Conclusion

I recommend it highly and also recommend other tools from x-rite like the Color Checker Passport.  My prints are beautiful and accurately represent what I get out of my editing tools.  One of the side benefits is that instead of thousands of images languishing on the hard drives or in a web portfolio, some of them also now reside on my walls and in the homes of friends and family.  My buddy Bryan told me that he heard over 95% of photographers never print anything.  I think that's a shame and nothing encourages you to print your photographs like a great print.

Useful one handed reflectors

I've tried a zillion different portable reflectors.  Or at least five.

I recently found the Lastolite Triflip.  Like many reflector kits, it is based around a flexible frame that starts with a diffusion scrim with zippered reflectors, white, silver gold and black.  Like other reflectors, the Triflip comes with a stand clamp, and folds up into a transportable flat package, roughly 12 inches in diameter.

The big differences are twofold.  The Triflip is roughly triangular in shape with a robust handgrip at the "point".  If you've eve tried to handhold a reflector in one hand and the camera in the other, you know how awkward the larger round reflectors can be.  The Lastolite Triflip is completely different.  You can not only mount to a lightstand but also handhold the reflector and exercise excellent control of the reflected light.

When decent multi kits exist from a variety of fune vendors, we all have choices open to us.  Since I shoot mostly on my own, and often am in situations where stands are inappropriate, this kit is really ideal.

Sell price is roughly $150 but I hit a sale and got the kit for $120.  While I haven't discarded my other multi-reflectors, I carry the Triflip clipped to my vest, or daybag everywhere.  For me at least, the key to useful kit it that it is kit you use.

Geotagging your photos - effectively and inexpensively with Geotag Photos Pro

With the advent of decent cameras in smartphones that also include GPS devices, it's become popular generically to start geotagging your photos.  That's all well and good and transparent if you have an iPhone 4 for example, but what if you have a DSLR or Compact Digital without a built-in GPS?

There are certainly options available in your favourite photo retailer that mount in the hot shoe and with only a bit of arm twisting and a bunch of money, you can now geotag photos you make on your better camera.  Sorry, too expensive and too much of a kludge.

I use an iPhone 4 and an iPad, both of which have GPS built in, so I went looking for a Geotagging app that ran on either platform, was fast and simple to use, and could handle large volumes of photos without needing days.  Fortunately most iDevelopers understand that to get people to buy your good apps, it pays to do a Lite version that may be feature limited to get the hook set.  So that's the route I went.  I searched for apps that had lite and paid versions with the plan to try the lites and then buy the one I liked best.

First thing I discovered is that there are a lot of these apps.  Second thing I discovered is that most of them are difficult to use, have bad UI, or require you to dislocate bones to make them work.  I won't dis any of those app builders by name, but I didn't go forward with their products.

I recently spent the day with my friend Bryan, owner / operator of Daytripper Photo, on a trip up to the Wye Marsh near Midland, Ontario.  Over the course of the day I shot over 350 images, with my usual ratio of junk this to keepers.  But befire I pulled them in to Lightroom and or Aperture, I wanted to have them geotagged.

In my testing, I settled on Geotag Photos Pro from TappyTaps.  The program is so simple and so effective.  Here's how it works.

1.  When you are ready to start shooting, launch the app and create a new trip and start recording the GPS locations.  All it takes is a one button press and a name for the trip.  You can control how often the GPS updates the log file from the preferences.  I chose 15 minutes in this case and it didn't do any real damage to battery life on the iPhone.

2.  Forget about the app.  Go shoot photos.  For however long you like.

3.  Once your photo shoot is over, stop the recording of the GPS log and let it upload to the website.

4.  Your workflow for managing your photos may vary, but I will share mine.  I load the CF card into the reader and copy all the RAW images to a dated folder in a directory for each camera on a Drobo.  Backup of original photos complete.

5.  I duplicate the directory in case something goes wrong wth the geotagging.  It never has but paranoia is offset by cheap disk space.

6.  I use the offline version of the Geotag Photos Pro application on my Mac Pro, but there is a web client if you prefer that.  I download the trip file and point it at the directory containing the copy of the RAW files.  It updates the geotag information in the EXIF data without issue and very quickly.

7.  I import the updated photos into Lightroom and or Aperture.  Lately I have been using Lightroom more, but it really doesn't matter.  Use the photo management product you like.  If it shows EXIF data, you will see your geotag info.  Now I have originals, backups and library references to my photos, with unaltered originals, geotagged originals, DNGs in Lightroom and native Canon CR2 in Aperture.  Like I said, disk space is cheap.  It also helps me have multiple copies because let's say I've deleted things in the past that I have later regretted.  Or made edits to JPEGs forgetting that JPEG edits are destructive.  You may be much smarter than I.  Or less paranoid about data loss.  PS all the data on Drobo1 is backed up daily to Drobo2 and my photo libraries get backed up to Crashplan every night.  Better safe than sorry.

There are lots of geotagging apps, but I have standardized on this one.  The developers update it regularly, I haven't hit any major bugs and it does what I want.  The app is available on the iTunes App Store for $3.99 and is also available for Android, wherever one might buy Android apps.  BTW, I don't know if English is the developer's first language as some of the text on the site can be a bit awkward.  Focus on the quality of the app, you'll be very pleased.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

UPDATE: Canon 5D Mk II new firmware released

If you shoot with the Canon 5D mk II, you may not be aware that Canon released a firmware update for the camera date stamped May 31, 2011.  This brings the firmware in the 5D MkII to 2.0.9 Firmware updates are optional for users, but I tend to try to keep all my kit current.  According to sources the updated firmware does the following;

1. Improves writing/reading speeds when using UDMA 7-compatible CF cards. 2. Fixes a phenomenon where the IS function will not work when custom function C.Fn III-2 is set to [5: IS start] and the lens attached does not have an AF stop button. This is because custom function C.Fn III-2 allows users to assign IS start to the AF stop button on the lens 3. Corrects misspellings in the menu screens displayed in Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai languages.

Unlike other updates, this one is relatively minor, but you might want to keep up to date regardless.  To download the firmware go to the Canon download site

Canon Pixma Pro - Getting the red out

Hey everyone! I was a devoted Epson printer user in the past but moved away to Canon because I grew really weary of the printhead on the R printers jamming up when not used daily, turning a nice machine into a boat anchor. So, I switched to Canon Pixma Pro, choosing the 9000 in my case. I'm kind of like a lot of photogs I meet. Shoot a lot, print a little. Sometimes it's just a lot cheaper and less time-consuming to have my stuff printed commercially. But following the purchase of the Nik Software Complete Collection, I've been printing a lot to validate that what I am learning is actually resulting in better images.

I thought I was screwing up. I had all the right ICC profiles, I had current drivers, I had current versions of Aperture, Photoshop and LIghtroom. I had my screens calibrated with a Huey Pro. But my prints from everything looked a little bit red. So after wasting a lot of time and a lot of paper, I finally turned to the web to discover, hey, I'm not alone, lots of folks find the Canons print too red.

So I checked with Canon. Despite making great gear and passable software, let's just be polite and say that they weren't very helpful. So I started working through that bucket of software that comes with Canon DSLRs. My whole kit was stolen in April while I was in Barcelona so I had current SW as part of the replacements. I found a few things.

First is Canon Easy-Photoprint Pro. It's a plugin for Photoshop that allows you to leverage the Canon print engine, albeit through a goofy model. (HINT - don't look for it anywhere near Print). You can select non-Canon ICC profiles with the plugin, but the UI is lousy so you'll spend time looking. If the results had been good, I would do a screencast on using the plugin, but as you'll see there is no reason to do so. Some reviewers said it gave them exactly what they saw in Photoshop. Not so me. What I got was darker, greyer, flatter and generally looked like something the cat puked up. Trashcan that.

Then I looked to using ICC profiles from Aperture. Just like Photoshop, I did not get what I saw on screen, what I got was too red. Ok zero for two, or more accurately zero for four since I got the same output as Photoship CS 5.1 and Lightroom 3.4.1. Seriously ticked off

Then I came to Canon Easy-Photoprint EX. I launched the program as it is standalone and navigated to the folder on my Drobo where the images are stored. It found the Lightroom images without problem but if you use Aperture, well it doesn't even see the Aperture library so that sucks. I opened some images that I had done work in using the Nik tools into Easy-Photoprint EX and they looked right on the screen, unlike how the Easy-Photoprint Pro images had looked. I loaded some Ilford Classic Glossy 4x6 in the printer. I could not find any way to select any ICC profile in Easy-Photoprint EX, other than the default Canon ones so I picked the Canon Glossy profile and printed the images. Surprise! They came out looking fabulous, exactly the way they did on the screen. Doing side by side compares with direct prints from Aperture, Photoshop, Lightroom and Photoshop using the Canon plugin reinforced how lousy the other images were, either too red or grey and flat (Easy-Photoprint Pro plugin).

All is not perfect. The UI for Easy-Photoprint EX is not Mac-like. It's not even Windows like, more pencils and ugly-like. It's also dog slow to load and to get your images open, selected and to the print phase. Once you do get to the Print dialog, it moves along very nicely indeed, and I cannot complain at all about the image quality. So at this point I have an answer to my printing concerns, but it's not a good answer as it involves yet another app and yet another set of steps. Clearly it is possible to get colour accurate prints out of the Canon Pixma Pro printers, so why can Canon not make them print properly without using their proprietary app and only their ICC profiles? C'mon Canon, fix this!

Welcome to thephotovideoguy.ca

Welcome to the group! The idea behind thephotovideoguy is really simple. We encounter tips, tricks and traps when creating photographs and videos. We write them up and share them with you. If we're really lucky, you post your own thoughts and tips and comment regularly. As we evolve we'll add projects and theme drives to help you become a better photographer or videographer. We don't sell any gear, and we don't have affiliation with any reseller or manufacturer. We'll tell you about what we find to work, and where we had issues. If we or you have a great experience with a retailer, we should say so. No flaming, we'll keep it positive because this should be fun for all.