Having shot almost a week’s worth of random shots with the new rig, all is well on the rig side. The computer side… well, that’s another story.

Adobe quickly released Adobe Camera Raw 4.2 to quieten the screaming hordes that had bought a shiny new 40D, only to discover that none of the Adobe suite of products would read anything other than the jpegs coming from the camera. And all was well — jpegs and RAW files were importing just fine — or so I thought.

The problem is that ACR doesn’t work with the new sRAW files the 40D can produce, which means that neither Photoshop nor Lightroom can read ‘em. These funny little files are getting a lot of press as being a quick-and-dirty RAW format for folks that don’t need big file sizes, but need some of the advantages of RAW. It’s a nifty idea that may be ideal for some folks. However, neither the Adobe line, nor my Mac’s Preview, will display them at all. Heck, the Mac still can’t display a 40D RAW file in Preview!

These are just growing pains, and this too shall pass, but you’d think that Adobe, Apple and Canon would at least have had a powwow prior to the camera hitting the street!

So, for those of you looking for images shot since I picked up the 40D, you may have to wait a bit. My automation is really tied to ACR, and if it can’t read some of the files that I’ve shot, I’ll just have to re-import ‘em again, and I’d really rather not do that. Thanks for your patience!

This image of the Gateway Arch was shot late in the afternoon, and features a cloud-draped Sun straddled by the arch. I was leaving a Cardinals game at the old Busch Stadium when I saw this brilliant combination of light and dark on the arch.

Gateway Arch is available in a variety of sizes, with an unframed print matted at 11×14, and framed images at both 18×24 (single mat) and 22×28 (double-matted). Please visit my sales gallery on Yessy if you are interested in purchasing Gateway Arch.

After a few days into having the new rig, it seems appropriate to write a bit more about the Canon 40D. There’ve been no great negative revelations, although I have found one little thing that I think is designed a little backwards.

The cable release port on the 40D is in the same location as on the 20D. However, on the 20D, the cable is run toward the back, while on the 40D, it is run to the front. For the way I use my cable release, routing the cable to the back makes more sense, but at the end of the day, it’s not a huge big deal.

OK, so the ugly is over; now to the beautiful. And there are two beautiful things tonight… speed and focus.

Tonight, I was photographing hummingbirds on the feeders. Everytime I hit the shutter release, I fired multiple shots — man is this thing sensitive! Quick, too. I was firing shots of those quick moving little dudes waaaaay quicker than I could with the 20D. Really, really impressive.

I’ve also played with live view. This feature has killer application for crazy sharp focus. I’ve played with using live view, and then zooming up the preview to 10x for some really sharp focus. I don’t know that I’ll use live focus outside of macro or astronomical shots, but the uses there just seem amazing.

More to come….

Well, 40D, actually.

Yep, I bit the bullet and put a new Canon EOS 40D in my hands tonight. I picked up the kit with the 28-135 IS f/3.5-5.6 lens and lemme tell ya, this camera rocks.

So first, why this camera? Well, all my accessories from my 20D will fit it, and I mean all… the battery grip, cable releases, batteries, all my lenses, everything. And then there’s the features.

This body has a huge LCD display on the back — 3 inches! — which makes photo review a joy by comparison to the 20D. Also, this camera has a self-cleaning sensor — after having just cleaned the sensor on the 20D, I can really appreciate the benefit that’ll be. And, you can change the focusing screen for the first time in this line of cameras. The biggest new feature though is one I thought could never happen: live view.

Live view is a new feature that allows you to use the 40D like a point-and-shoot, composing and shooting using the LCD instead of the viewfinder. The mechanics of SLRs really prohibit that kind of functionality, but somehow Canon figured out a way to do it. It sounds like the shutter lifts in this mode, allowing the sensor to see light all the time, and then shuts and opens when a shot is fired. This is a really cool feature, and since you can zoom in on the live image on the LCD, it appears that I’ll be able to use it to achieve really fine focus on macro and astronomical shots.

How about performance? Well, it’s 10Mp at 6.5fps. In large JPEG mode, I shot over 170 shots on a 4GB Sandisk Extreme III card before the camera had to pause to write to the card. That’s pretty dang amazing! I sure wish I’d had that kind of frame buffering and write speed when I shot the Blue Angels a couple of weeks ago.

Weight-wise, it feels a little lighter than the 20D. I’ll never complain about having less weight in the bag.

As with anything, there’s a couple of warts. The first one is the battery door. In order to install the battery grip, you have to remove the battery door. On the 20D (and I think the 10D also), you had to move a little metal slide to “de-hinge” the door from the camera. On the 40D, you just pull the door off the camera. The hinge posts are plastic, and I’m pretty convinced you wouldn’t wanna do that a whole bunch.

The other wart is on the included lens. The AF/MF switch on the new lens doesn’t have as much height to it as the old version of this lens. This isn’t a huge thing, but it’s a little bit of an annoyance, as I have to look at the lens to figure out where the switch is, and to what it’s set. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

Overall, this is a gem of a camera, and a steal, given the inclusion of a lens that usually goes for a D-note ($500) on it’s own. With the big changes between this body and either the 20D or 30D, that just makes the deal sweeter. The step from the 20D to the 30D wasn’t huge, but this one is monumental. Absolutely a keeper!

I’ve recently discovered that TVLand is showing Star Trek at 5am on weekdays. Why is that evil? Well, it’s slowing me down in the morning!!

There I am, minding my own business eating my Cocoa Pebbles, and the good Captain showed up on the screen, transfixing me and ensuring that I don’t stray too far away. Bad ol’ TVLand!

I’d promised getting some of the Blue Angels images from the St. Louis County Fair posted. Tonight, I’m delivering four of those images.

The first, Blue Angels Delta captures the Blue Angels in a delta formation, overhead and in a turn.

The second, Angels Diamond, was also taken at the fair as the Blue Angels flew overhead.

The third, Gear Down, shows the underbelly of one of the Blue Angels aircraft as it comes in to land.

The last, Slow Diamond, captures the Blue Angels flying low and slow in a diamond formation.

All these images are available in a variety of sizes, with an unframed print matted at 11×14, and framed images at both 18×24 (single mat) and 22×28 (double-matted). Please visit my sales gallery on Yessy if you are interested in purchasing any of the airshow images.

This weekend, Becky and Molly went for their first Rally Competition, held in Sullivan MO. I wasn’t there, but I am told that both canine and human did well, and came back with spoils from their campaign.

On Saturday, Molly scored an 84, and took second place. On Sunday, there was more competition, and despite Molly scoring 89 (which would’ve been first place on Saturday), she took fourth. The good news is that those scores are good enough to give her two legs of the three required for a Rally Novice title.

Beck’s really been wanting to do this with Molly, and I’m just thrilled that they pulled this off!

Since I didn’t have a photo up last week, I’ve included two images from my trip to the Outer Banks in 2005.

The first, Footprints captures the tracks of a small bird across the sands at the ocean along the Outer Banks.

The second, Little Crab, was also taken on the sands at the Outer Banks. I found this little guy running around on the beach, and he was nice enough to pause so I could take a close-up photo of him.

Both Footprints and Little Crab are available in a variety of sizes, with an unframed print matted at 11×14, and framed images at both 18×24 (single mat) and 22×28 (double-matted). Please visit my sales gallery on Yessy if you are interested in purchasing Footprints or Little Crab.

Yes, yes, there’s no Photo of the Week this week. With the holiday, and the big shoots of the Blue Angels on both Friday and Sunday, I simply haven’t had the chance to process through all the new images — over 1000 frames just this weekend!

Monday of next week will be Blue Angel Monday though, and I’ll spotlight the seven images from the Blue Angels show this weekend that I’ve been working on. Maybe I’ll even get energetic and go for more than seven!

Today was our day at the St. Louis County Fair and Air Show. Alas, as we learned today, this will be the last one. The land around the airport has grown in value, and has been sold, so there’s no room for all the parking needed for event in the future. Bummer.

Beck and I went down to the fair around 11 or so, marveled at the lack of traffic, and parked Smokey. We were directed to busses to get us to the event, as we were over a mile away. That wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but that seemed like a good idea, so we lugged cameras, bag chairs and a sack of bottled water into the event. After a short ride, and a pass through security, we were on the grounds, and started looking about.

As we had hours until the air show, we wandered around the static displays. There were all kinds of aircraft there, including a Nazi aircraft of some kind. I thought it was a mock up, but right there on the end of the wing was what appeared to be a vintage manufacturers plate, complete with serial number. Weird bird, that one was!

After a hour or so, and realizing that there was little shade in sight, we decided that frying in our own fat probably wasn’t terribly good for us, so we departed and headed to Red Robin for some equally — but differently! — bad-for-us food. Hamburgers and malts later, we were in the parking lot at the Commons. We talked with another air show fan for an hour or so, and finally saw the Blue Angels doing their thing.

We watched them go to and fro, and while I’m sure the crowd at the airstrip were getting a great show, I was more than pleased with the treat I was getting from the parking lot in the valley. I was firing shot after shot, and every once in a while, I’d take my eye away from the camera to marvel at what these guys were doing. It was during one of these lulls that I almost dropped $4k of camera gear onto the parking surface.

I was watching a group of four of the Blue Angels, when quietly, from behind, one seemingly came out of nowhere, buzzing the parking lot. To say it startled me is putting it mildly! I was shaking for a full minute after he went by, and once he was gone, you could hear the sound of dozens of car alarms he’d set off with the vibration from his pass. That was exhilarating!

So, it was a great shoot, and a shame that we won’t have the Blue Angels in the valley again. I think that leaves the nearest air show at Scott AFB, which is easily 60 miles from here. I’m sure it’ll be good, but there’s nothing like having America’s military might turning, edge on, right over your house!