the ginkgo blog

iPhone goes through a 90'C white wash and lives to tell the tale - The iPhone 3G build quality is utterly amazing...

If like me, you listen to podcasts, music or iPlayer on your iPhone to help you to drift off to sleep. Just make sure you put it somewhere safe as soon as you wake up and arise from your snuggly duvet on these winters mornings.

A couple of days ago, we all awoke slightly late, so the morning rush to prepare for and execute the morning school run was slightly more rushed and fractious than normal. I whipped the duvet off by semi conscious body and headed for the bathroom, where on my return the bedroom my wife was diligently removing the sheets to get a white wash on before we all headed out.

About 5 minutes before we were about to head out the door, now back on the rigid schedule that is the departure time for the school run, I popped upstairs to get my phone...

After looking pretty much everywhere and on returning to the bedroom for the third look around, the penny dropped - as did the pit of my stomach.  I was on top of the duvet, headphones still attached... The duvet was downstairs adding to the washing pile that had built up as the morning had progressed. At least I hoped to hell that it was!

 Calmly and relaxed I called downstairs in a barely raised voice asking if the bedding had gone in the washing machine yet.  After a significant delay, came the reply... "SHIT!"

Both stood in front of the washing machine, I turned off the mains supply and waited for the click announcing the release of the door lock... It came.

As my wife slowly pulled out the sheets, an ear bud first appeared followed by the chord... We didn't have to be even half awake to know what was coming on the other end of it.

The, a glow appeared through the white duvet cover and the screen came in to view, with a little message waiting for us.

"This accessory is not made to work with iPhone"    No shit!!!

I guess that's why Apple truly believe it really is a smart phone... I didn't even need to download an App for that...

Obviously there was no way we could take it seriously from this point on. So I stuck it in airing cupboard in the vain hope that when it dried, it would work.

 It didn't...

So after reading a few instructions on ifixit.com, I opened it up, removed the main components, split them up and gave them a good clean (like they weren't already), dried them and let the bits on the radiator for a few hours.

On reassembly I tried to turn it on with no results.  So I decided to pop the USB connector in for the hell of it, already resigned to the fact that it was now a very expensive paper weight. As I did, it popped back to life with the battery recharging symbol, where it remained for about 10 minutes. 

 But, on returning from making a coffee, there was a keypad waiting and begging me to to enter my PIN. The first number arrived about 2 seconds after I touched, as did the second, but the third and fourth were instantaneous. And then it lit up and returned to the exact manner in which it had been left on my duvet a couple of mornings previously.

It works, it has no issues that I have come across and I didn't have to make an insurance claim, as I was certain I would have to.

The iPhone 3G survived a tumble in 90'C soapy water in a washing machine for over 15 minutes...

Bloody amazing!

The Large Hadron Rap - Problem with being a natural geek...

I love science. I studied Biomedical Science, practiced clinical medicine, then in to research and then in to drug development. Finally, I thought I'd use my camera for my living and haven't looked back...

But... I still love science, and this geeky rap is just plain bloody cool!

Let me know what you think!

A fix for the MacBook Pro black screen / screens not working after installing Apple OS X Leopard 10.5.7 update... MackBook Pro 3,1 with NVidia 8600M GT graphics...

 10.5.7 Update - Has it bricked your MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 3,1 ?

       

[UPDATE]  4 days later and the problem has returned - Dropped it in to the Apple store and they did a free logic board replacement. Looks like the fix below was just a temporary reprieve from the blackness. Still, they fixed it the same day and it works great - can't argue with that. Plus the service (West Quay store, Southampton) was amazing, friendly and very welcomed.

Just a note of caution, this worked for me. I hope it works for you but obviously I can't guarantee that. I just thought I would share it in case, like me, you now probably need a wig to cover up the excess loss of hair over the last few days. There are without a doubt a lot more steps below than is necessary. Given that I'm no techie, I'm simply putting down what has worked to me. If you know more about the OS X. platform, you can obviously take or leave as you wish.

 

Read more if this has affected you - Click below....

    

Apple to release new Pro Apps & MacBook updates @ the 2009 WWDC?

9to5mac.com cites it's reliable and 'favorite Apple source' as feeding them information that there are to be some updates and new versions to their professional applications and platforms.

To quote...

"We just got a call in from our favorite Apple source who says that Apple is going to have a minor update at WWDC for MacBooks and MacBook Pros.  He said he wasn't sure what the minor upgrade was but there was speculation that there might be some sort of 3G hardware built-in and/or speed bumps.  Perhaps even non-removable batteries on the smaller sized laptops.  Again, that part is just speculation at this time.

Also, he said there would be a big Pro apps update.  Final Cut Pro, Aperture, Logic, Shake should all see significant updates.  

We are still waiting on news of the 10-inch netbook/tablet device.  We don't have any specifics or timeframes yet because this project is being kept under lock and key.  We hope to have something better in the coming weeks. "

Fingers crossed we will see some meaty updates to their  suite of applications. What would you love to see? Personally, I'd like to see Aperture sort out itself when it comes to the use of my MBP's resources. In addition, I'd love to see the ability to have archiving and exporting with previews kept and locations of where the files were sent to. A pucker media manager and workflow tool - all in one wrapper of Apple loveliness...

We are looking for guest writers for our blog - Interested?

Those of you who know us here at Ginkgo, will know that we are as much about sharing as we are about business when it comes to photography.

  

  

But obviously there is a limit to our knowledge and our areas of speciality. Plus, there are undoubtedly other professionals in our industry out there who are better than us at certain parts of our discipline. We would have to be delusional to think otherwise. Plus there are experienced individuals in complimentary fields who will hold gems of information that our readers (and probably us too) will find invaluable at some point in the amateur or professional careers.

Therefore, we would like to invite you to share your knowledge and experience with our growing reader base, whoever you are and whatever you do. If you feel that you have something of value to share with our readers who are primarily amateur and professional photographers - Get in touch, send us some links of your work or an article - and let’s go from there.

The more useful information we can get out there and link points of interest together, the better it will be for all of us.

Here are some examples of peeps that we would really love to see articles from here on our blog. This is not a definitive list, just a few examples. So whoever you are and whatever you do; if you feel you have something of value to share - don’t hold back - get in touch...

1. Web Designers & SEO’s - We all need to know more about this and in terms we with little brains can understand
2. Copy writers - Copy is the completion of the image in the creative industry. Whether for marketing or advertising or your promotional materials. 
3. Marketing - Viral marketing - What is it, how does it work, should be looking at it? Traditional marketing :  What’s important, what’s not?
4. Finance - No matter how good you are - If you screw this side of your business, you are going to get hurt - What are the best and most important things to take care of? And how?
5. Editors - What do you want form a photographer? How do you want to receive it? How should we be approaching you? How shouldn’t we be approaching you?
6. Models - How to get the best out of a session? - Your relationships with your subjects and how they will impact your results - Do’s and don’ts

And the list could go on and on and on...

What’s in it for you? Simple... Exposure. And, the right kind of exposure, to the right kind of peeps. And of course, the sense of self satisfaction that you have probably helped others in some way and at pretty much any time in the future. Oh the power of Google.

OK, you get the idea. So enough said. If you’re interested, drop us a line. If you’re not, then sign up to the News Feed or eMail subscription and see what develops.

Top 10 free & paid for photography applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch...

    

The following links are to an RSS feed for the top 10 free and paid for photography applications for the iPhone (both 2G and 3G) and the iPod Touch.

They will be automatically updated in real time for you so they will always show what are the current top downloaded apps. There are two sets of links - First to the UK top 10's and second to the US top 10's

UK    

Top 10 paid for photography applications for the iPhone & iPod Touch

Top 10 free photography applications for the iPhone & iPod Touch

US

Top 10 paid for photography applications for the iPhone & iPod Touch

Top 10 free photography applications for the iPhone & iPod Touch

Hopefully these will be of some use to you...

Just add them to your normal news feeder and they will keep you up to date with whatever is popular in both the free and paid for photography applications sections of iTunes.

Also... We'll be doing a series of reviews on the tools that we think are potentially excellent for use by both amateur and professional photographers alike early in the new year - so why not subscribe to be kept up to date.

Air Sharing iPhone application - It's a seriously good bit of kit!

I found the Air Sharing application for the iPhone about a month ago - which was rather lucky as it was free then. And I have to say that it has been one of the most useful applications I have used on the iPhone to date.

Given that it is currently on sale for the holiday season - I'd highly recommend taking a look at it.

So what is it? How is it any good for a photographer? Read more after the jump - Go on, click the link, you know you want to...

Red Digital Cinema looking to launch “a replacement for digital SLR’s” Kinda makes my 5D MkII post a little more relevant...

  

The Red One is undoubtably a ground breaking piece of kit, turning the whole digital high end video capture industry on it’s head and the manufacturer, Red Digital Cinema becoming a firm favorite with independent film producers. With outputs from 3k to 5k, we are talking HD that makes 1080p look like a YouTube clip from a web cam.

Founder of Oakley sunglasses and the co-founder of Red Digital Cinema, Jim Jannard dropped the news into a blog posting, stating that the company is looking to produce “a replacement for DSLR’s  - or as they are calling it, a ‘Digital Still & Motion Camera’ - DSMC - With a supposed due date of late 2009.

Now, as I mentioned in my previous article, the harmonisation of these technologies is going to have quite a profound effect on the output of short films, including those found on YouTube after putting into the hands of the masses, a style of equipment that has only previously been available to professional outfits. The style being full control over everything, including a range of lenses.

However, Jannard believes their company has a significant advantage over the likes of Canon and Nikon, as they are working with purely new technologies.

In addition, "The strength of RED is in our sensor development program, REDCODE, and having no legacy platforms to deal with. That left us free to explore, develop and prepare to deliver a new platform. DSMC.”

This is great news for professional and amateur photographers alike, as we are undoubtably going to see a heavy battle for market share, which will in turn mean prices driven down and an acceleration in the development of the technologies employed.

Obviously there is no price information yet - Their video kit is pretty pricey - but with very good reason. I’d hazard a guess we will be talking Hasselblad territory rather than Canon - But hopefully  I am wrong!

One thing that I am pretty certain of is that they will be employing their upgradability philosophy to the DSLR contenders, which will make their initial price a little insignificant as their overall lifetime price will likely be lower due to the ability to update components, rather than having to upgrade everything.

But - And I think this may be a big but... As any marketing dude in the pharmaceutical industry will tell you - ‘First to market is king’. The rest have to play catch up and try everything they can to take market share off you. But unlike the pharma industry, once you have invested in a platform, you would have to see something pretty special to persuade you to change brand - and in turn all your kit. And some pretty adverts and lifestyle references aren't really going to cut it in this market.

Having said that - I still think that this is going to be the beginning of a very exciting time, where we are going to see photographers producing great films and cinematographers producing great stills. 

I am seriously looking forward to it.

Canon G9 - Dirt on the sensor - Inside a sealed unit?

Okay, this post is kind of in partnership with the previous one. Given that I’m not overly happy with Canon right now. Most likely just my bad luck, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.

My Canon G9 - a fantastic camera and undoubtably the best point-and-shoot I have ever owned. Let down only slightly by the limit of the wide-angle end of the zoom. Other than that it is truly an amazing bit of kit.

However... It would appear, that somehow, what looks like a three pieces of lint and a grain of dust have managed to find their way onto the sensor and even F. 2.8 have made the camera unusable. Even if I wanted to sit in front of Photoshop long enough to fix the images, it just wouldn’t be worth it. And quite frankly, why the hell should I.

It would appear there are countless threads out there with others who have had the same problem.

One thing that does seem to be consistent, is that Canon will bring the camera in, clean it up and get it back out to you. Good on them! Perhaps they can tell us why it happening to so we can at least minimise the risk of it happening again. So that is exactly what I will be arranging tomorrow morning - getting it sent to Canon UK.

If you’ve had a similar experience and particularly if you’ve had your camera back from Canon, would you mind adding to this post your comments so that not only I, but others will know what to expect. I’ll update with my experiences once I get it back to.

UPDATE...

Well, I eventually took it into Jessops (where I bought it) and they simply took it off my hands and sent it off to Canon. Two weeks later I get a letter letting me know it was back from repair. And sure enough, all is well with the camera, at no charge whatsoever.

So, whilst it has been a little bit of a pain in the rear - Canon, lived up to the rumors that they would simply sort it out for you.

Hopefully I won't have to have it done again - But in the unfortunate event that I do, I'll be sure to update.

Even more hopeful will be that the new design employed in the G10 will mean this will never happen again on subsequent models.