RomanT.net

Cameras these days record the orientation of the camera when you take a shot, and write this into EXIF which is embedded into the photo. There seems to be a new way in which the 40D does it.

If anyone has attempted to import from 40D into Lightroom, they might notice that all the images are rotated 180%.

Windows picks up the correct way up, yet Lightroom simply doesn’t.

I hope Adobe will be quick to remedy this problem, as well as update the RAW converter to accommodate the 40D

Update

Having a further look into it - I noticed this only occurs when you connect the camera directly to the computer, as opposed to extract the CF, and using it within a reader.

Also windows didn’t automatically rotate the photos when looking at them through explorer, so possibly this is a Windows Vista problem, and not Lightroom.

If anyone in XP or OSX can reproduce this - do post.

Update 2

After trying this with Lightroom 1.3 - the issue still persists.

Not fixed yet.

Am a happy owner of the Canon 40D.

You can get plenty of complete previews/reviews off other sites

I will merely mention several things.
I purchased the kit, which included the 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens.

Initially I was considering of purchasing the 400D, although after having a handle of my friends 350D [which practically has the same physical dimensions] – I decided that the camera felt … feminine. Not the build of it, but more so that actual ‘lack-of’ grip. It was simply too small in my hand.
To overcome this – I thought of getting the battery grip, and upon a visit to the local CameraHouse – I didn’t like that either, as the seams of the battery grip didn’t meet up properly with the base of the 400D. This resulted in the camera simply not feeling right, plus it was smaller than my 300D!
Then I envisioned purchasing the 30D, but that thought quickly faded, as I’d be investing in old[er] technology. So I set my sights on the 40D.

Upon driving 90km to the store I ended up a happy camper. So how did it fare?

Body

Holding this puppy makes me feel like Kim Jong-il with his finger on the button. The finish of the body can be described like Vista – without the sarcasm – “Wow”. It is quite solid, and I have yet to drop it, hopefully I won’t be testing that feature.
The LCD is simply stunning, large [3.5"] and the LiveView is quite nice, if ever-so subdued and seemingly dull.
The buttons and their layout will be familiar to all previous Canon SLR users.

Lens

The kit lens is nice and bulky so it has a right balance with the body. The USM is very quick to focus, and the IS helps you get those photos you previously discarded due to being too blurry.
One gripe, and the main gripe I have with the lens is its ability to focus. I hope I just got a bad copy of this beast, but it simply cannot focus properly. I end up with images that are way too soft to be appreciated. At first I thought it was the camera, yet upon donning the 50mm 1.8 II and seeing the exceptional images it produced I simply decided to take the lens back, which I’ll be doing once the store opens up on Monday.
So far – that is it. There are too many features to mention that this camera contains, which is most likely more than an S-Class Mercedes.

Overall

Extremely happy with the camera, not so much with the kit lens.

UPDATE

I did a few test shots, to outline what I believe is a pretty bad copy of the 17-85, or perhaps as some have suggested the new focusing mechanism in the 40D playing up with a lens that can’t go f2.8..

Lens - 50mm 1.8 II

Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/160
FStop: f/2.2

Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/60
FStop: f/3.5

Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/50
FStop: f/4.5

Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/30
FStop: f/5.6

Lens 17-85 IS USM

NOTE: Check the focal length

Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: 1/60
FStop: f/4

Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: 1/30
FStop: f/5.6

Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: 1/13
FStop: f/9

Focal Length: 35mm
Exposure: 1/50
FStop: f/5

Focal Length: 35mm
Exposure: 1/30
FStop: f/6.3

Focal Length: 53mm
Exposure: 1/40
FStop: f/5.6

Focal Length: 53mm
Exposure: 1/25
FStop: f/6.3

Focal Length: 85mm
Exposure: 1/25
FStop: f/5.6

Focal Length: 85mm
Exposure: 1/15
FStop: f/7.1

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As you can see, the lens simply isn’t usable around 17mm, yet it does perform quite nicely at 35 and over. Understandably this isn’t L glass, but I don’t think it should be THIS soft. I will be returning the lens to Canon for re-calibration.

After I updated Lightroom to 1.1, I had mixed reaction. At first I was very pleased with the added features such as spraying meta tags onto photos. Although I was very unhappy with the fact that the update rendered my Lightroom, simply unworkable - it was way too slow.

• The browsing of photos would stagger once you go from one end of the library to the other
• Previewing of photos was nearly impossible at full resolution, as it would just sit the with the infamous ‘Loading’ bar at the bottom

I’m using this on my laptop [Core Duo T60 2500, with 1.5GB RAM] - and with nearly 5000 photos, Lightroom 1.0 screamed through any task. You’d imagine that 1.1 would be an improvement.

I was convinced it wasn’t only my problem, even after numerous posts on DPreview, Adobe’s Lightroom Forums - everyone who had a MUCH better machine to play with - reported no problem.

The good news is that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and you can get your speed back.

Two methods [both covered]

1. Optimize the catalog - doesn’t work for everyone, namely myself.
2. Re-export your catalog, and let Lightroom rebuild

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So here are the steps

1. File -> Catalog Settings…
2. Under the General tab - click ‘Relaunch and Optimize’ | for a lot of people, this will do the trick, otherwise continue
3. After Lightroom opens back up:
   1. Under Library foldout on the left, select ‘All Photographs’, to make sure your whole library catalog is being exported.
   2. File -> Export as Catalog
4. Pick a new directory not far from where your current Lightroom library exists, this will save you time later on moving it.
5. NOTE: When the dialog opens up, make sure you don’t have ‘Export negative files’ selected, otherwise depending on how many photos you have, it will take a VERY long time, plus it is completely unnecessary
   
6. Click ‘Save’
7. Once it has finished exporting the library, the previews and is ‘done’, go and run the new library - you should notice a MUCH snappier response on all actions, and it is now as Lightroom 1.1 should have been.

If you fit into the following criteria, this post is for you.

1. a fan of Adobe’s Lightroom
2. you happen to be a Flickr user
3. you haven’t seen the light and you’re using Windows

You might want to know how to actually upload directly from Lightroom and into Flickr.

Step 1

Locate the install directory for Flickr Uploadr, mine resides in

C:\Program Files\Flickr Uploadr

Step 2

Locate where Lightroom places its export actions.

At the bottom you should notice:

Now paste the Uploadr exe into that directory.

Next time you attempt to Export - you will have the option of choosing Flickr Uploadr [as you can see I already have], and voila!

Note

• You might want to save this as a preset, so you wouldn’t have to select Flickr Uploadr in the drop down all the time.
• Deselect ‘Put in Subfolder’ - so it would ONLY export to Flickr
• Best of all - all the tags that you already have, will be uploaded to Flickr, so don’t worry about adding them in the Uploadr [am getting sick of spelling it like that...]

Throughout the last few years, it has been evident that the only way that a company is to make it ‘big’ is to allow people to create and add content themselves.

This is evident through the likes of Google with their Map mashups, SecondLife and ability to create businesses and ‘own’ land, and more recently Facebook and the now open API for developing applications which live within peoples profiles.

As it stands, according to Google Trends, Lightroom is far ahead of Apple’s Aperture.

I’m sure there are points for each - but at the moment I’m using a PC with Vista on it, so am limited to Lightroom, although I must say that I absolutely love it!

The workflow from the camera to getting the photo printed an up into a frame on the mantel piece is now a half-minute job. This will include any modifications that are required on the photo due to the poor lighting conditions or otherwise bad photography to start with.

One downfall of this application is as yet the unfortunate lack of an open SDK for third party plugins. Many within the blogosphere have been asking for an integration of a ‘publish’ action to their blog or even facebook photo library.

Apple on the other hand, already has an SDK out and about, so perhaps the demise of Lightroom is imminent - although I very much doubt it.

Common Adobe - get on with it! I want a Flickr action out of my Lightroom.