Measuring Canon G9 Sensor Noise

I recently decided that a new tool would be nice and that I needed a fairly compact camera that performs well under low light conditions. Both the Canon G9 and the Panasonic DMC-FZ18 seemed interesting from their specs. [I also looked at FujiFilms offering because in the past they performed very well at high ISO. Unfortunately, a camera with the SuperCCD and image stabilization is currently missing from their model lineup.]
Trawling the net for hard information on sensor noise for these fairly new cameras proved to be a frustrating experience. There seems to be very little information available that allows a good comparison of various cameras. Yes, I know there are many snapshots available, but the conditions under which they are taken varies greatly.
The big review sites (I personally prefer dpreview.com) are somewhat better, but none had a review of both cameras online. In fact, dpreview had published a review on neither camera.
So I decided to create my own test setup to determine how the cameras that I have access to perform and to allow a comparison. Because I just got it, I started with the Canon G9.

Using Lightroom with Expression Media to Add Metadata to RAW Files

In the past, I have used Capture One Pro (C1) to edit the RAW files (which I exclusively shoot) and then output JPEG files. I would then employ iView Media Pro to add metadata to both the RAW the JPEG files. I exported the metadata to a XMP sidecar file for each RAW file and archived the RAW with the sidecar XMP.

It turns out that this workflow is far from ideal: both the RAW and the JPEG files' metadata needs to be kept in sync. If I go back to create another JPEG from a RAW that has already be processed, I have to manually copy the metadata from the RAW to the new JPEG because C1 3.x looses most of the metadata during processing.

When Adobe Lightroom (LR) came out, I started using it and eventually replaced C1 with it because (among other reasons) it supports XMP metadata very well. I can now add metadata to a RAW file and it will be preserved no matter what I do with the file in Lightroom (or Photoshop, for that matter).

But here the problems started:

Fireworks

I saw some fireworks yesterday and snapped away.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Fireworks XVIII"][/caption]

Open Source Consumer Electronics Platform

Thinking about the business of consumer electronics, it seems that most devices are now knocked out in China by the (tens or even hundreds of) millions. It appears that a device is developed and then the entire batch is manufactured in one go. The resulting pile of devices is stored in a warehouse and pushed into whatever supply-chain exists to move the product. Once all the inventory has been moved, a new device with an updated (hardware) specification is produced, repeating the cycle.

In this sort of product cycle development is at best a nuisance the costs of which which are minimized by utilizing standard components. This can be seen with cheap MP3 players or low-end digital cameras which all seem to sport the same features at the same time as a new chip set is released.

As an aside note, the story is slightly different for a recognized brand which may build upon past devices to strengthen the brand itself. Take Apple, for example, who have a clear platform strategy for the iPod where one generation builds upon the previous generation. The iPod firmware has now reached a level of maturity where few if any updates are required and the (software) feature set seems fairly stable.

But at the bottom of the pool development carries little return past the current device. There is little evidence that the software of these devices improve over time. For an example, take low-end MP3 players, all of which seem to share a common bug and have been for years: the playlist is sorted by the order of file creation on the device. It looks like there is a chipset out there which likes sorting this way ...

The limitations introduced by this approach to development may be tolerable in a simple MP3 player or digital camera, but what about a DVD recorder? Do you remember when programming a VCR was pas the ability of many (if not most) consumers? If you want to experience deja-vu, go an purchase a cheap DVD recorder and try to reliably record shows off air using the timer. Assuming you get the media compatability mess sorted out programming the device will prove to be a challenge. And even if that works, you may find that after you have missed the third show because something inexplicable went wrong with the recording you will want your VCR back. At least I did.

Clearly there is a steep learning curve for the makers, even though other people solved all of the issues with VCRs years ago.

It would be easy to bash the manufacturers for these shortcomings (and often I do). I do think, however, that these companies are really (and I mean REALLY) good at knocking out hardware at the lowest possible costs. They are not (and most of them probably never will be) consumer device developers or software developers. That is simply a different problem domain.

So what can be done? Looking at Apple again, Apple do their own user-experience development and then farm out the software development to a specialist, at least partially. If you don't believe me, look at the credits on an iPod. Manufacturing is handled by a number of companies who specialize in this.

This is, of course, a league in which many of the class of manufacturers mentioned above may aspire to but will never reach. There is a solution however: open source the device.

Imagine this: a company designs an MP3 player with the usual software, just like everyone else. Then they sit down and write a complete manual on the hardware and the registers of the chipset that is used suitable for a programmer. They sell the player and release the documentation for download along with the tools required to upload new firmware to the device. What will happen?

My answer: how fast can you say Linux?

It is almost guaranteed that someone will create a new (and better) firmware for the device and release it as open source. Now people buy the cheap player to run the cool firmware. Sales go up and more people become interested and contribute to the software. Pretty soon the little company is selling players like the proverbial hot cakes with no software development effort on their own.

This works for a number of router and access point manufacturers, so why not for consumer electronics manufacturers?

Skymaster DVR 7400

I purchased a Skymaster DVR 7400 digital satellite receiver with time-shift capability. In the box is the receiver itself and a plastic remote control plus the batteries for the remote as well as a user manual with instructions. The receiver appears well-built and sold from the outside. The remote is a bit on the light side of comfortable and doesn't feel pleasant in my hands. It is perfectly useable, however, so I won't complain.

Hooking the receiver up was a snap: connect the satellite feed to the satellite input and one of the two SCART outputs to the TV. There is also an S-Video output as well as an optical S/PDIF digital and RCA analog stereo audio outputs all of which I did not use.

Upon turning on the receiver it automatically found the Astra 19.2°E satellite that my dish is aligned to (this is a no-brainer since it is practically the default satellite here) and tuned in the channels. Wonderful!

The EPG (electronic program guide) implementation is strange: it seems to download all data in real-time, so that it often takes a while to actually get information. There is a hard drive in the device, so why isn't the information cached there? And while I am wondering: why is the program description slowly scrolled in a separate window automatically every 5 seconds or so instead of allowing me to scroll manually at my own pace?

The EPG is optimized to show what is on a single channel (or up to 4 different channels) for the next few hours. This works well and could be improved by a mode that shows what is on all the different channels at the same time.

It is fairly easy to program a show for recording: a simple button press and after that a confirmation is all that is required. It is less easy to see what was actually programmed afterwards, you have to scroll through pages of individual timer settings which do not seem to have the show title set reliably.

The recording seems to consistently start 2 minutes late. The only way to work around this that I could find was to manually set the start time earlier.

Playback works fine some of the time. I had one show which started skiping about 25 minutes into the recording. There where short (1-5s) pauses in playback every minute or so. After 30 minutes the receiver froze and had to be rebooted to accept any input at all from the remote. This behavior was consistently repeatable.

I had recorded the same show off the same satellite feed using the ElGato EyeTV and everything was fine. The problem was clearly not with the feed. I suspect a hardware or software bug in the receiver.

The manufacturers website did not offer any helpful advice. There was a kind offer to call a premium-rate number for support, an offer which I politely declined, as I always do. The receiver was bought as an entertainment device. I do not find bugs to be entertaining, quite on the contrary. So I gave the device back and will spend my money on something else.

2 stars out of 5.

Country Road

A snapshot while taking a walk. This picture (or at least the full resolution image) illustrates why it is not good enough to have a camera with you at all times, it really should be the best camera that you have. If you don't have a clue what I am talking about, have a look at the three birds in the picture. What three birds? Exactly! With a better camera you would see the birds in their full glory.

I'm still posting the image because I like the light summer feeling which it captures.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Country Road"][/caption]

Review: Elgato EyeTV 310

I purchased an Elgato EyeTV 310 which is a digital satellite tuner and personal video recorder for the Mac. It will decode DVB-S which is what most(*) digital TV and radio satellite feeds are. The feeds can be saved to the hard drive and time-shifted or edited and/or converted and burned to CD or DVD.

(*) Most are DVB-S. Most high-definition feeds are DVB-S2 (which uses MPEG-4 instead of MPEG-2 for compression) which the EyeTV 310 does not decode. If you want to receive HD satellite feeds, this is not the product for you.

The EyeTV 310 is a small box that has a connector for the satellite feed, power, and two Firewire 400 (IEEE-1394) ports. Plug it all in, install the software from CD, and get going ... Except that when I did, nothing happened. The EyeTV did not find any channels.

I knew the satellite feed was good because it worked with a stand-alone receiver. I tried various settings, but nothing helped. So I contacted Elgato tech support using the website. Within less than a day, I had a knowledgeable, friendly reply. No boilerplate, no automated junk, a real human tech-support contact. I was pleased.

What the tech suggested did not work, so I made some screen shots and saved some log files, wrapped them up in a .zip archive and sent another email. Within a minute of sending the email, my message had been entered into the tracking system on the Elgato website. This time, I was amazed.

I though Elgato would fumble the ball on a same-day response, but I got an answer later that evening from my original support contact. No playing hot potato, the guy who knew the case kept it. The message was friendly and again very helpful. Someone clearly knows his stuff here!

The tech suggested that I try eliminating all the pieces of equipment starting at the LNB to find out what was causing the problem - he thought that despite the stand-alone receiver working the EyeTV was not getting a signal.

O.K., I will admit it: I was skeptical. After all, I had seen it work, right? But the next day, I sat down and did what I should have done from the start, I eliminated the possible causes for the error one by one.

Guess what? It turns out that I was using a bad cable. Swap the cable and the box works like a charm. At this point, I was ecstatic, and I let the tech know.

So how does the EyeTV perform? On a lowly Mac mini Core Duo with 1 GB RAM, the CPU utilization is just above idling when I watch a TV feed or listen to a radio feed. The picture quality is excellent, as you would expect from a digital feed. There is no discernible lag in frame rate, decompression artifacts, or other weirdness.

Most DVB-S feeds come with program information. In a view slightly resembling iCal, all the channels and programing are listed. A simple click on an entry brings up additional descriptions. To schedule a recording, a single button press is enough. There is nothing else to configure.

EyeTV also comes with a one year subscription to an EPG (electronic program guide) service which should list all feeds, even if they do not broadcast program information. I have not tried this because the Mac mini is offline.

Once a feed has been recorded, it becomes available for playback, editing, or archiving. If you happen to have Toast, EyeTV will pretty much automate burning a feed to DVD. That's a nice touch.

There are some things the EyeTV software could do better: there seems to be no way to show all program entries of a certain type (say all movies or all documentaries) in the EPG view, for example. I would also have liked the level indicator to correctly show that the EyeTV was not getting a signal when I was troubleshooting. It would be nice to have more options in organizing the channel list.

But by and large, this is not just a good product, it is excellent and though much more expensive than a Windows solution well worth the money. I was (and still am) impressed by the support I got. Good support is hard and not cheap, but Elgato seems to go the extra proverbial mile to deliver it.