Technology Reviews

This page is not intended as a full on review of various pieces of equipment, there are plenty of great sites for those out there, rather it is intended as a statement of what I have used and what I have thought about it. I will probably be updating this page less frequently than others, given that I just finished my Ph.D. and so do not plan on buying any neat toys in the near future. If you have questions on my reviews, drop me a line. I am not sponsered (currently) by any of the products I review and all information is intended for educational purposes only. I have put this page together because I wanted to talk about the likes and dislikes I have from the pieces of equipment and software that I use. I am definitely not a power user, but I figure that there are other users out there, like myself, who want a quick assesment on certain products. Also where appropriate I link to more in-depth review sites that I use when trying to make decisions. These are sites that I like and find very useful. I recommend highly going to them to further answer any questions you have.

Adobe Creative Suite

This is what I use to make web sites, alter my digital photos, and create PDF documents. I probably use only a fraction of what is available and am trying to learn more and more about the program. The link above is a link to Adobe's web site and it gives a description of this and other adobe software. I have tried to get into Macromedia software, but find their software dificult to intuit. This could easily be my own lack of knowledge and I am sure that there are people out there who might prefer their software. Either way I think that there is so much great software out there that makes web authoring, digital photo editing, and even animation creation so much easier than it used to be. Adobe Creative Studio is one of those suites of software that will allow a user to do all of this and more and for me it is pretty inuitive. For my work I also use Photoshop on a regular basis

Canon PowerShot G3

This was a great first camera that got me in to digital photography. You can see some of the pictures that I have taken on my photography page. While this was a great starter camera, I feel its bulk and the advent of newer cameras and digital SLRs kind of makes this camera out of date. I think that I would not mind adding to my current camera addiction with the purchase of a smaller point and shoot digital like a cannon digital elph, but if I am going on a major photo shoot, I am going to take my Nikon D70. I think a digital elph or other small format point and shoot camera would be a great hiking/vacation camera to put in your pocket.

Nikon D70

So when I graduated from graduate school I decided to buy myself a present - a D70. I had done a great deal of research at web sites like dpreview.com, kenrockwell photography, and others. So I went to the local photo shop here in Salt Lake asked some more questions and purchased a D70. Some of the pictures I have taken can be seen on my photography page, but remember these are low resolution images. The D70 images are sharp and while I am still learning a great deal about photography, it takes great pictures even in AUTO mode - which I am trying to not take as many in this mode so that I can play with things like f-stop, ISO settings, and shutter speed. I am still learning a lot about this camera, but given its cost and feature set I highly recommend it or the similar EOS digital rebel. I did not go the rebel because I felt the Nikon was sturdier, had some newer optics and I have heard really good things about Nikor lenses. I have a friend with the rebel and he likes it a lot and I have not heard too many bad things about it, except maybe how sturdy it is. The D70 is also a little more expensive than the rebel so that is definitely a factor to consider.

Canon i9100 and i9900

Two printers that I have and I feel print extremely good prints. Check out some reviews at steve's digicams. I liked the i9100, but then the print quality began to deteriorate on some of the prints and I was getting vertical banding. I do not know why this occurred, but it could be due to the use of OEM inks. I am switching to only using canon inks in my i9900. The i9900 creates beautiful prints and I am very happy with it so far. It has 8 ink tanks which is good and bad. I am going to switch to true canon inks and this is the biggest problem with printers in general in my opinion - the cost of ink. Yeah you can get OEM ink, but I am very weary of how good such ink is. For 3 sets of ink cartridges you are looking at around $200 if you can find a good deal for canon ink, so make sure to factor that into the cost. The printers themselves aren't bad with the i9100 around $250 and the i9900 around $400 online.

Photo paper

I have used different types of paper both store bought and purchased online. Most of my experience is with glossy paper and right now my favorite place to get it is freephotopaper.com. I really like the paper as well as the people seem to be very nice and receptive and knowledgeable. I want to try some matte paper soon and I tried some in my i9100 before, but was less than happy with the quality. The canon printers allow for borderless printing in their easy-photo print software, but I am not sure how compatible it is with matte finish paper and I need to play with this function more. The one thing I would say is avoid Kodak paper - I have not had much luck with it. Any suggestions that people have for paper and different types of paper, drop me a line and let me know as I am always interested in what others use for their prints. I also find that canon photo paper is very good and probably better than that from freephotopaper; however, the cost of it is also more. Given that I have a canon printer this may be part of the reason why.

This page is not intended as a full on review of various pieces of equipment, there are plenty of great sites for those out there, rather it is intended as a statement of what I have used and what I have thought about it. I will probably be updating this page less frequently than others, given that I just finished my Ph.D. and so do not plan on buying any neat toys in the near future. If you have questions on my reviews, drop me a line. I am not sponsered (currently) by any of the products I review and all information is intended for educational purposes only. I have put this page together because I wanted to talk about the likes and dislikes I have from the pieces of equipment and software that I use. I am definitely not a power user, but I figure that there are other users out there, like myself, who want a quick assesment on certain products. Also where appropriate I link to more in-depth review sites that I use when trying to make decisions. These are sites that I like and find very useful. I recommend highly going to them to further answer any questions you have.
Adobe Creative Suite This is what I use to make web sites, alter my digital photos, and create PDF documents. I probably use only a fraction of what is available and am trying to learn more and more about the program. The link above is a link to Adobe's web site and it gives a description of this and other adobe software. I have tried to get into Macromedia software, but find their software dificult to intuit. This could easily be my own lack of knowledge and I am sure that there are people out there who might prefer their software. Either way I think that there is so much great software out there that makes web authoring, digital photo editing, and even animation creation so much easier than it used to be. Adobe Creative Studio is one of those suites of software that will allow a user to do all of this and more and for me it is pretty inuitive. For my work I also use Photoshop on a regular basis	Canon PowerShot G3 This was a great first camera that got me in to digital photography. You can see some of the pictures that I have taken on my photography page. While this was a great starter camera, I feel its bulk and the advent of newer cameras and digital SLRs kind of makes this camera out of date. I think that I would not mind adding to my current camera addiction with the purchase of a smaller point and shoot digital like a cannon digital elph, but if I am going on a major photo shoot, I am going to take my Nikon D70. I think a digital elph or other small format point and shoot camera would be a great hiking/vacation camera to put in your pocket.	Nikon D70 So when I graduated from graduate school I decided to buy myself a present - a D70. I had done a great deal of research at web sites like dpreview.com, kenrockwell photography, and others. So I went to the local photo shop here in Salt Lake asked some more questions and purchased a D70. Some of the pictures I have taken can be seen on my photography page, but remember these are low resolution images. The D70 images are sharp and while I am still learning a great deal about photography, it takes great pictures even in AUTO mode - which I am trying to not take as many in this mode so that I can play with things like f-stop, ISO settings, and shutter speed. I am still learning a lot about this camera, but given its cost and feature set I highly recommend it or the similar EOS digital rebel. I did not go the rebel because I felt the Nikon was sturdier, had some newer optics and I have heard really good things about Nikor lenses. I have a friend with the rebel and he likes it a lot and I have not heard too many bad things about it, except maybe how sturdy it is. The D70 is also a little more expensive than the rebel so that is definitely a factor to consider.
Canon i9100 and i9900 Two printers that I have and I feel print extremely good prints. Check out some reviews at steve's digicams. I liked the i9100, but then the print quality began to deteriorate on some of the prints and I was getting vertical banding. I do not know why this occurred, but it could be due to the use of OEM inks. I am switching to only using canon inks in my i9900. The i9900 creates beautiful prints and I am very happy with it so far. It has 8 ink tanks which is good and bad. I am going to switch to true canon inks and this is the biggest problem with printers in general in my opinion - the cost of ink. Yeah you can get OEM ink, but I am very weary of how good such ink is. For 3 sets of ink cartridges you are looking at around $200 if you can find a good deal for canon ink, so make sure to factor that into the cost. The printers themselves aren't bad with the i9100 around $250 and the i9900 around $400 online.	Photo paper I have used different types of paper both store bought and purchased online. Most of my experience is with glossy paper and right now my favorite place to get it is freephotopaper.com. I really like the paper as well as the people seem to be very nice and receptive and knowledgeable. I want to try some matte paper soon and I tried some in my i9100 before, but was less than happy with the quality. The canon printers allow for borderless printing in their easy-photo print software, but I am not sure how compatible it is with matte finish paper and I need to play with this function more. The one thing I would say is avoid Kodak paper - I have not had much luck with it. Any suggestions that people have for paper and different types of paper, drop me a line and let me know as I am always interested in what others use for their prints. I also find that canon photo paper is very good and probably better than that from freephotopaper; however, the cost of it is also more. Given that I have a canon printer this may be part of the reason why.