The Gimp and other editors

The Gimp 2.6 has been released and it is really polished. They even changed the general layout of windows. Check it out!
Another free editor for windows is Paint.NET It does not have all the scripting and filter function of The Gimp, but definitely can do a lot, and worth checking out.

Don't forget about IrfanView. Although it is primarily a viewer it does have some cool editing features. It also has very robust meta data features.

Oh, and then there is XNVIEW, free also, and great for batch resizing.

I personally have found my investment in Adobe's products very worthy, but these programs are truly useful and can really help if money is tight.

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Photomatix 3.1

YES!!!! The very fine people at HDRSOFT [ http://hdrsoft.com] have upgraded PhotomatixPro to version 3.1, and what is so excellent is that they have included an Adobe Lightroom Plugin. This greatly improves workflow is is very appreciated. Thank you!

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Third busted shutter button

Well three times a charm I guess for my 30D. Yesterday I sent it back to Canon get the shutter button repaired. I want a replacement, but they don't do that with SLR's apparently. I am definitely going to sell the body after this. I really need a body that is reliable for longer that 5 months at a time. While I am going to keep all my L lenses, I am still very tempted by a Pentax K10D with some pancake lenses, or an Olympus e420 with a 25mm pancake. So light weight, perfect for street photos. To replace the 30D I am thinking a 5D would be perfect as I would get the best out of the lenses I have.

Cheap Pete's

I really have to recommend Cheap Pete's for photo framing. I had a great experience today at their store location in Walnut Creek.  I had already had the photo mounted by Bay Photo Lab and took it to the store looking to get it framed, not really knowing what I was wanting. Not really knowing that 12x20 was an off size I ended up ordering a custom build up. During the conversation I inquired if they had a chart of "normal" sizes, they didn't but the assistant manager of the store Matt whom I was speaking with wrote all their frame sizes with the corresponding photograph size for my future reference. Talk about going the distance!! For my 12x20 I ended up buying a 20x28 frame matted 4", it is going to look incredible, and the best part is that it is a gift :) Gotta love photography.

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July

It's been a really weird month. So much smoke and heat. To get away I have been to a few Northern California beaches, and what a great time that has been. have been shooting more with my Point and shoot because it is so portable . I really wish I had one that shot raw though. The Canon G9 would be perfect but I think the sensor is just too small for 12 megapixels. That new Sigma DP1 sure looks good. I get a shipment of prints in today from Bay Photo, one of which is a mounted 12x20 which should be very interesting.

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Flock, Olympus, and smoke.

I have been trying out the new Flock 2 beta and it just an excellent browser. If you use photo upload sites, blog sites, news, rss etc, it really cannot be beat. I highly recommend it. It is not only fun, it saves a lot of time. The UI theme is very polished and the media interface bar is very handy. I can upload to Flickr, view friends photos, blog and read new very seamlessly.

I have been seriously considering buying an Olympus e420 with a 25mm pancake lens. I have been doing a lot of walking around and shooting. The light weight and small profile of the e420 is really attractive. I think it would be fun to shoot with.

It has been really smokey hear in the SF Bay Area for over a week now because of all the fires in the state. This has really changed the mood of the people, the light in the sky and overall appearance and health of our community. The other morning I woke up and the sun in its rise looked just like a cherry tomato. I wonder if this is what it is like to live in Seattle.

Gear

Well I finally got my 30D back from Canon. It now has a 2nd decent shutter button that works when pressed, yet I wonder how long this one will last. I have been just doing a lot of street stuff with a point and shoot and it is REALLY fun. I find myself seeing and feeling more about my environment than the camera. On this note I have been looking at an Olympus e420 with the 25mm pancake lens. I think it would be a real blast and it could replace my point and shoot (which is a Canon SD450 by the way) as my carry-always camera. I was of course considering the 40D to replace my buggy 30D, but I don't think I really need it.