Camera Labs

Hi Anthony,

Thanks for your input. I've already found those Apple tutorials and while they were enough to get me started they didn't go nearly deep enough.

As for Office Apps, I hardly ever use them even on the PC with the major exception of Outlook for email, contacts, calendar etc. I've no intention of ditching my very considerable investment in Windows software, some of which is unique to that platform, and as I outlined earlier in the thread the only reason I was able to contemplate an Air was that what I wanted to do with it was very simple (basically just browsing and tethered shooting). As a result I'm only interested in software which is available for both platforms so that I can easily maintain both file and brain compatibility. It's bad enough having two sets of keyboard shortcuts to remember.

One thing that continues to impress me is that OS X on the MacBook Air is ready from a cold boot in as little as 15 seconds. Redmond could take some lessons there. Not quite so impressive was this morning's software update (to OS X 10.6.5) which totalled about 600MB but if that's the price to pay for maintaining the system in top health it's still worth it.

While Parallels Desktop might be an option in the unlikely event I did decide to switch to a Mac for all my hardware needs I've no need for it at the moment. And I was only reading a few days ago that the speed hit can be anywhere from about 5 to 40% depending on the application being run, performance being compared between a visualised Windows environment and booting directly into Windows.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

I just timed my fastest PC, which has a couple of fast SSD drives installed.

1 minute to boot in total.

40 seconds to get through the bios
20 seconds to load windows.

The screens were actually still black at 15 seconds, funny and a lot of work to do to change that!

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http://www.parismetrotrash.com

Hi DP-PARIS,

Are you in the right thread?

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi Bob,

Yep, was just highlighting just how impressive the 15 seconds boot time you mentioned compared to Windows:

"One thing that continues to impress me is that OS X on the MacBook Air is ready from a cold boot in as little as 15 seconds"

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http://www.parismetrotrash.com

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Ah, got you now. Actually I've just noticed that the OS X upgrade to 10.6.5 seems to have added about 10 seconds to the boot time. Still pretty good but not a good trend.

Update: Did a Google and a helpful post was to reselect the Air's "Startup Disk" as its SSD. The other option was "Network" so maybe it was looking at that first and then progressing to the SSD. In any event, having done the above I'm back down to 14.6 seconds.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Bad news Bob.

Seems Apple has been twisting PhotoFast's arm and they have now abandoned their 3rd party SSD card replacement. On the bright side, Toshiba (the OEM) announced their own offering a few weeks ago.

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Graham
Flickr

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Thanks Graham. I saw the Toshiba announcement but having used my MacBook Air 13" for a few weeks now I doubt very much indeed I'll need any SSD upgrade. The machine continues to impress with its lightning fast boot up time of 15 seconds and great battery life - it's the ultimate "Net Book". Being firmly wedded to Windows 7 for my main computing needs I'll never be a true Mac convert, I'm afraid, but if I was starting with a clean slate I think I'd be very tempted to spend my time in the orchard rather than behind the curtains.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

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One person's take on the Air can be read at Field testing the MacBook Air for photographers.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Thank you for the link Bob.

My 15-inch MacBook Pro (early 2008 model) is reaching 3 years old soon, and it's about time for a new laptop. The article is quite promising to me.

Well, the 2.5kg weight of MacBook Pro (15-inch) makes my unwilling to carry it out often. 1.32kg (MacBook Air, 11-inch) is very attractive in weight.

Although I do carry my iPad out often, it is for different usage.

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AntBlog701 | SillyDog701
Apple: MacBook Air (11-in, 1.8GHz i7), Mac Pro (12-core 2.66GHz), MacBook Pro (15-in), iMac (21.5-in, Core i5), Mac mini Server (2.66GHz), iMac (24-in, C2D), PowerBook G4 (12-in, 1.33GHz), iMac G4 (1.25GHz)x2, PowerMac G4 (dual 1.44GHz), iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, 4, 3G, iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad 2, iPad, iPad mini (all 64GB, LTE/3G), iPod touch (4th gen & 1st gen), 3 x AirPort Extreme, Time Capsule...

With the news of Apple's latest MacBook Pro specs and the rumours that Nikon will be adding the Thunderbolt interface to their cameras (D4 rumours) it might be worth holding out just a bit longer until the MacBook Air's get the Thunderbolt update.

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Nikon D90
Nikkor AF-S DX; 18-105 f/3.5-5.6G VR, 55-300 f/4.5-5.6G VR, 35mm f/1.8G
Speedlight SB-700

http://keystrokesukimages.com

I just bought the new iMac with Thunderbolt and if the Nikon rumors are true I'll be tapping my shoes people! All in all, Bob, I have an Air and I use it for Photography. I use Aperture 3 and if you don't have anything else running it's pretty decent. Other than that it can get quite slow whilst processing.

Edit: Forgot to mention mine was a 2009 model. Oops! Still, I love it!

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Nikon D3000, AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR, AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR
55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED, Sigma EF-530 Flash

http://web.me.com/angelmleon/www.beginnerspic.com

Hi angeleon197,

I'm still very happy with my own Air though I do wish the keyboard was a little more like a regular PC. I've been putting off the day when I have to put a Windows 7 partition on it but that day is almost upon me...

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Bob,

After reading you mentioning about your MacBook Air for 8 months, I will soon join your MacBook Air club. Just ordered one since my 15-inch MacBook Pro is way too heavy for carrying around.

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AntBlog701 | SillyDog701
Apple: MacBook Air (11-in, 1.8GHz i7), Mac Pro (12-core 2.66GHz), MacBook Pro (15-in), iMac (21.5-in, Core i5), Mac mini Server (2.66GHz), iMac (24-in, C2D), PowerBook G4 (12-in, 1.33GHz), iMac G4 (1.25GHz)x2, PowerMac G4 (dual 1.44GHz), iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, 4, 3G, iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad 2, iPad, iPad mini (all 64GB, LTE/3G), iPod touch (4th gen & 1st gen), 3 x AirPort Extreme, Time Capsule...

Hi Anthony,

I'm sure you'll love it. Make sure you get one of the new 2011 specification machines.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Yes, thank you. It is the new 2011 model. Since I ordered a customised version, it will take a bit longer to receive it.

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AntBlog701 | SillyDog701
Apple: MacBook Air (11-in, 1.8GHz i7), Mac Pro (12-core 2.66GHz), MacBook Pro (15-in), iMac (21.5-in, Core i5), Mac mini Server (2.66GHz), iMac (24-in, C2D), PowerBook G4 (12-in, 1.33GHz), iMac G4 (1.25GHz)x2, PowerMac G4 (dual 1.44GHz), iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, 4, 3G, iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad 2, iPad, iPad mini (all 64GB, LTE/3G), iPod touch (4th gen & 1st gen), 3 x AirPort Extreme, Time Capsule...