The real benefit for me came in the added bonus side effect of the tool overcoming an issue with the ATI X800 graphics card installed in my system. By reading the ‘Readme’ file after installation (something I never do but may start now) I discovered that it is possible to use flags on the application. By altering the application to start with a /L flag, the tool will load up the default profile in stealth. This shortcut could then be placed into the startup folder to be run when logging in to Windows.

I was keen to try this because I have been having a long term problem with the ATI drivers. My calibration tool has a profile loader that will load the profile when the computer starts but the ATI drivers would then override the proper profile with something akin to nothing! I discovered a year ago that I had to remove the profile loader from startup, wait for Windows to load then use the loader. All would be well with the LUT (Lookup table) and I could continue as normal… this was a complete pain though and now that this has been solved on my PC, I am quite pleased!!

• From the M$ site, the tool has the following features;
• • Install and uninstall ICC color profiles
  • Inspect, rename, and compare two different color profiles
  • View a 3D graphics plot of color profile color gamuts
  • Associate color profiles with devices such as printers, monitors, and scanners
  • Apply custom color gamut adjustments to one or more displays on the fly
  • Set up display calibration reminders at intervals you specify

As soon as I saw the new iMac G5 last week, it was very tempting to actually go ahead and buy one, after all, it does everything and a lot more. For a regular use computer, there would be no additional accessories required (well… maybe a TV tuner!). The specs and features are way above anything that the usual programming and web browsing might throw at it. The all in one design and new software make it very desirable. The built in iSight and remote control are just extra bonuses on top of an already well presented bit of kit. It seemed that it would be the ideal stop-gap before the Intel PowerMacs were released…. until today! I mean… who wouldn’t want a PowerMac with 4 processor cores running? The processing power of the new PowerMacs is nearly pornographic in it’s appeal. For the rest of the year, I will have to walk around telling myself to believe myself about not wanting one just yet… but I do! I cant imagine how the Intel based Macs could top the performance of these beasts. It can only be described as REAL power.

The new Powerbooks have seen some nice enhancements aswell such as new displays and longer lasting batteries. Perhaps this is to make them better suited for working with Apple’s new software aimed at photographers. Aperture is a completely RAW based workflow, editing and printing tool. Is this software alone enough justification for a new PowerMac quad? Maybe… the recommended system specs are a Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 or faster, 2GB of RAM, a powerful graphics card and 5GB of disk space just for the application, templates, and tutorial. I am thinking that it must be good!

The instruction manual clearly states that only a very small rubber air blower should be used to clean the sensor, under no circumstances should you use a brush, cloth or canned air as these may each damage the sensor. As it turned out none of these or worse appears to have done much harm to mine but I will know more over the next few weeks! Looking into the body, I could just about get my eyes to focus on the specs of dust that were visible on the sensor. I took my trusty rubber blower and started squeezing and aiming the tiny jets of air at the sensor. A few minutes of this and the dust was still there. More pressure was needed and I calculated that if I held an air can away from the camera, it would probably be ok so I tried that. This operation went on for a few minutes aswell and ended with the nozzle heading into the camera body and getting very cold in my hand. Another failure, the dust was still where it had started. Apparently, slightly more aggressive measures were needed so I reached for my ultra fine weave lens cloth and very lightly pulled it across the sensor. Yet again, the dust was still there. By now I am thinking that this is slightly more than your average surface dust and something extreme must be required. All logic apparently gone, I gave a good old breath onto the sensor to fog it up a bit and used a cotton bud to wipe the dust off. The operation actually involved a bit of rubbing followed by more rubbing to remove the smear marks! All in all… it ended up looking as good as before less the dust. I will try taking some pictures in the near future and see if I have caused any lasting damage. As Canon have just released the EOD 20D, perhaps a replacement would not be so bad!

Investigation into the cause of this problem has shown that perhaps my storage technique is partially to blame. I own a LowePro Orion Trekker rucksack that is spilt horizontally inside which my camera fits tightly with the lens facing up towards the top. This has proved to be the easiest way to put the camera in and out. What I hadn’t realized was that with the camera stored in this way all the time, the dust would follow the laws set out by Newton and fall directly down onto the sensor in the back of the camera. It is apparent that my plan for buying a new bag is now justified. The next bag will have a design in which the bag is split vertically to get to the camera. This will also allow me to get a magazine inside which I cannot currently do and should be considered vital when travelling. In the meantime, I have turned the camera over so that the lens faces down. The bag pictured here is a LowePro Dryzone bag. These can actually be thrown into water and the gear inside will stay dry. As my camera spends quite some time at sea, perhaps a model like this should be considered.

If you are having difficulty installing a Logitech Bluetooth desktop because of Windows XP SP2… you need to do the following ;

1. Remove all files starting with ‘bth’ from ‘windows/system32/drivers’ and ‘%windir%/inf’ (Type the latter into the Run dialog box)
2. Download the latest software from Logitech.
3. Connect a PS/2 mouse to the pc, remove batteries from BT mouse.
4. Restart and install the downloaded software… reboot
5. When Windows has started again, wait while the wizard thinks for a while… eventually a box pops up behind the wizard which requires you to click ‘next’ on… this is why you connected a PS/2 mouse… the Bluetooth hub will not be operating at this point.
6. Reboot again and all should be well… put the batteries back in the mouse… get back to the manual and follow the wizard!

Let me know if I should expand on this. I have put it together very quickly!!

Searching the Logitech site provided no answers and the forums weren’t much help either which was unusual and indicated that the problem must be new or unique to me. What have I done recently?? Hmm.. installed Windows XP SP2 with its new and improved Bluetooth functionality. I think this might be the cause. After some searching and attempts at disabling the M$ Bluetooth I came accross a Knowledgebase article that seemed to have the information I needed. When I get around to trying this, I will be sure to post my findings as I doubt I will be the first person to have this problem. My first tutorial… since the last one anyway!!