Photo of the Week

One of the local Irish forums has awarded me Pic of the Week. You can see a large version on my photoblog, or view the post on The Photorooms.

Beware the Drobo Storage System

Beware the Drobo Storage System:


John Harrington gives ample warning about the new and very hyped Drobo Storage system. His main stumbling block are lack of speed and a proprietary file system.
The speed issue seems to be in write times: between 11 and 16 Mb/Sec. That's horrendously slow. As for the file system? Well it's only readable by a Drobo, so you'll need access to a second one if yours go down. After seeing a number of articles hyping the device, it's good to see real world opinion.

Move over Bigma, there's a Monster coming.

While the Sigma 50-500 is a handy lens to have, it struggles a bit at f6.3 @500mm. Not so this newly announced green monster from Sigma. It's a 200-500mm f2.8. And it's like that throughout the range.
And it comes with a 2X adaptor bringing it to 400-1000mm @f5.6.

APO 200-500mm F2.8/400-1000mm F5.6 EX DG - SIGMA CORPORATION: "

An ultra telephoto zoom lens offering a fast aperture of
F2.8 at the 500mm focal length and F5.6 at the 1000mm.
APO 200-500mm F2.8/400-1000mm F5.6 EX DG
2008.2.1
The Sigma Corporation is please to announce the new APO 200-500mm F2.8/400-1000mm F5.6 EX DG Lens.

This ultra telephoto zoom lens offers a fast aperture of F2.8 at the 500mm focal length and F5.6 at the 1000mm.  It covers widely used focal lengths from 200mm to 500mm and has a large aperture of F2.8 throughout the entire zoom range.  This lens can be used to create amazing image expression with various types of photography such as astrophotography, portraits, wildlife, sports.  SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass and three ELD (Extraordinary Low Dispersion) glass elements provide excellent correction for all type of aberrations.  The super multi-layer coating reduces flare and ghosting and provides high image quality from the extremely large aperture.  The lens hood, designed exclusively for this lens, blocks out extraneous light. A 72mm filter can be inserted at the rear of the lens, and a circular polarizing filter can be used in situ thanks to the ingenious internal rotation mechanism. The dedicated Li-ion battery BP-21 is used to power the zooming and AF operation. This battery is built in the lens barrel. For the convenience of the photographer, focusing distances and focal lengths can be viewed on the lens` built-in LCD panel.

APO 200-500mm F2.8/400-1000mm F5.6 EX DG
Supplied accessories; dedicated hard case, strap, 400-1000mm F5.6 Attachment, battery charger BC-21, battery pack BP-21"