Download an ICC profile for your monitor

I came across the French website Focus Numérique which offers freely downloadable icc profiles for some monitors and laptops. You can use them with xcalib on your Linux system. It assumes that you keep your monitor settings as from the manufacturer.

It is not as good as owning a colorimeter – since calibration varies over time and from sample to sample. But still, it is much better that the poor man’s calibration – that is, if your monitor is in the available models.

When real life (TM) kicks in

As you will have noticed, I haven’t been able to update this blog very much over the last couple of months or so. The reason for that is that we are moving to Montreal, Canada, which means “just a few things” to sort out. So not much time left for blogging.

Still, I haven’t abandoned the Linux & Photography Blog and hope to update it as time permits. I even have a couple of ideas for new articles 🙂 .

In the meantime, here is an image from my recent trip to Paris… to get our Canadian visas:

A few from my recent holidays

I have added 7 images from my recent trip to the German speaking part of Switzerland. They are available on my image site (last 7 ones of the gallery). This is my favorite one, from the JaunPass:

Note to self: Don’t present your images in a blog entry that immediately follows a link to the National Geographic 🙂

You’re visitor number 100,000

That’s it, this blog has crossed the 100k visitors limit according to WordPress.com’s statistics…

Thanks to everyone! … and sorry, there is no prize to claim, not even a Nikon D3.

To be back to our subject (Linux & Photography), there are a couple of nice articles in the pipeline so stay tuned 🙂

Pentax SLR forum signatures, reloaded

The first entry gathering forum signatures was a big hit. With the Pentax K20D announced and starting to ship (is it going to be a big hit, too?) there was some heavy activity on dpreview.com – and other. A chance to get some more and new signature quotes that made me think… or smile 🙂

Week-end reading

Alain Briot has published the first of an 8 episodes writing on composition. More often than not, I equate composition with “rule of thirds” because 1) I know it works 2) I don’t know that else to do. At the same time, there is this feeling that “there should be more”.

So I am very much looking forward to this series published on the Luminous Landscape. I hope it will be an opportunity to learn more about this vital subject of photography. Let’s forget software and gear for a minute, and think about image 🙂

By the way, there is a wealth of essays to read on Alain Briot’s website, probably more than what one can digest in a week-end. To be bookmarded for rainy days…

A new Pentax FA 35mm

After using and enjoying a few oldies K-mount lenses (especially the 28mm f/2.8), I decided to upgrade and get a fully working new lens (read: autofocus, automatic diaph and light metering). I like the idea of “zooming with my feet” as well as having a much lighter, less intimidating and easier to carry around camera.

Because I liked the 28mm focal, I wanted something close enough – maybe a bit less wide since I had found myself cropping my images from the 28 quite often. So I had to chose between the DA 40mm F/2.8 and the FA 35mm F/2.0. I went for the later – although I like the look of the pancake, the extra light and the focal closer to 28mm made me pick the 35. It is also full frame compatible, should anything happen in the future 🙂

Looking for pieces of wisdom on dpreview.com…

I am a regular reader of PentaxSLR talk on dpreview. I have been collecting a few signatures that made me think or smile – both of which are equally important.

But before reading, there is one important term that you need to be aware of, since it is used regularly on dpreview Pentax forums. Although a Pentax specificity, it may concern other photographers. The term is LBA; the following introduction offers a good summary:

When conditions are right…

Another very Geneva picture from our “by the lakeside Sunday afternoon walk”. When lightning conditions are right, most subject will come out right as well – and no need to be an especially gifted photographer to make the most of it.

And what is more, wordpress.com offers now 3Gb of filing space, which is about a gazillion % augmentation from the previous (rapidly filling) 50Mb. Thanks, guys, now I can post as many pictures as needed…

Don’t forget the big picture

There have been lots of talk about technique in the last entries. Technique is good and necessary; it is fascinating to see how to use OSS for photography. But let’s not forget that technique is a servant to our big goal: produce the best possible images.

Over Christmas and New Year, we made quite a few trips on our snowshoeing favorite spot in the Swiss Jura. This entry will just be about showing off my three favorite ones – yes there has been quite a few “deletions”.

Hope you’ll enjoy (clicking on thumbnails will give you a bigger version…).