First of all, I'm sorry if this topic has already been posted (did it? I couldn't find it).

But I went to this free show last night, and if you're interested, you can still get free tickets to upcoming events here:
http://www.digitalphotosolutions.net/

I was expecting a cheesy show with a bunch of small time vendors pushing their products to me. I went anyway because it's free (what do I have to lose?) and my thinking is that there is always something to learn. Boy did I UNDERESTIMATE this event!!!

The trade show was actually put together nicely, very professional displays, and high quality DVDs are shown. They showcased all the Photovision tutorials - anywhere from beginning Photoshop to digital wedding techniques and marketing. They had Canon there too, displaying HUGE prints from all the Canon digital SLRs, in different ISO settings. I saw one using the 20D at ISO 1600 that was a 30x40 print - AMAZING quality!

Then Ed Pierce gave a four hour seminar on a digital workflow - covering everything from optimizing your 1D Mark II settings (but works on 20D as well), to white balance, to lighting, to backing up files to computer, etc. using the products they are selling of course. But each product seems pretty solid and very useful. One thing I learned is to disable the autofocus so that the 20D (or Mark II) doesn't constantly focus (eliminating the need to focus then recompose every shot)! There were other vendors there as well selling white balance calibration targets, Art Leather was there, and print labs. Also demo'd the lensbaby - pretty cool inexpensive lens. Oh and another thing that impressed me was the demo on Flashtrax portable CF card reader - you can put this thing in your pocket and download all your CF cards onto a 20G drive! (they also come in 40, 80 Gigs) - and it's only $300, definately gonna get one of these!

Ed Pierce also did a great job convincing me to try shooting in RAW. He showed examples of tweaking a jpg file versus a raw file - big difference in tonal and color range! I always said I never had any reason to shoot in RAW, but after this I think I'll give it a try.

All in all, I'm glad I went because I found some new motivation to strive better and learned about what products are out there that could be useful in my business. And did I see the whole thing was free?!

I also met Michele Celentano and Bleu Cotton in person. Well, shook their hands at least (I doubt they'd remember me though).

Darn it! I missed my city. Maybe they'll do it again next year. It sounds like a really informative 4 hours.

I might go if I get the chance tomorrow night. I'll let ya'll know what I thought of it if I end up going....

Thanks for the pass on Greg!

I may have to check this one out!!

Hey guys if you plan to go, don't forget to check the link and go to 'complimentary tickets'. They will email or mail you tickets - they actually asked for them at the door.

Thanks for all of the info. I'm going to the one in Burbank tonight. Now I'm really excited!!
Chris, if you're attending the Burbank seminar, I'd love to meet you. Let me know.
Shawna
www.shawnadoss.com

Greg,

Before you buy one of those drives you should check out the new iPod Photo line that just came out today. They have 30gig models that are $350 and 60gig models that are $450. These sound pretty sweet....

here's the link...

iPod Photo

QUOTE (Musicmanchris @ Feb 23 2005, 10:01 AM)

Greg, Before you buy one of those drives you should check out the new iPod Photo line that just came out today. They have 30gig models that are $350 and 60gig models that are $450. These sound pretty sweet.... here's the link... iPod Photo

I'm intrigued....
I read about the iPod Photo, the one thing I'm concerned with is the ease of downloading CF cards onto it. Im imagining I'd have to use a card reader with usb2? I'd have to research more about the Flashtrax as well. Thanks for the info!

Probably, it would be a two step process of downloading into your computer and then backing up to the iPod Photo. It may be an extra step, but you get a bit more memory for not that much more cash and you get all the cool features of an iPod to go along with it.

If you had a USB 2.0 card reader you would be able to plug both the ipod and the reader into your computer and transfer straight through your computer to the ipod in one step...

Hmmm......I like that....that's good thinking!

If I had an extra couple hundred I'd invest in some of this stuff!!

ahhh, but my question is, can you plug the reader onto the iPod usb2 port and download images directly from CD card to iPod? I'm interested is backing up my CF cards on the spot while carrying the iPod in my pocket or bag. Just like what the Flashtrax drive does - http://www.smartdisk.com/Products/DigitalM...a/FlashTrax.asp

the Flashtrax is small enough for your pouch, has a built-in CF card reader, and download button so you just put in the full card, press the button and keep on shooting with a diff card. backing up your files instantly.

I don't know if ipod or belkin has done anything differently, but their old card reader deal that plugged right into the ipod was slow, and killed all of the power very quickly. Possibly they have fixed this, I have no clue. But definitely make sure and check to see how long the batteries last on the FlashTrax.

I went to the conference last night and it was fairly impressive. He talked a bit about software that he uses. One that he mentioned that I hadn't heard of before was Capture One. It seems like a pretty sweet program. Basically does what DPP does, but a bit more (such as croping for instance). He uses that in conjunction with iView Media Pro.

He also was a big fan of the Nik Multimedia software and did a sweet demo of some of the stuff it did.

Dana are you still happy with your switch to iView and with the Nik software?