WORK IN PROGRESS - Battery and charger test

I have been working the past few days testing my new battery charger and my NiMH batteries.


The results are very surprising so far. I'll post the results soon when I have collected enough data, but I think it will change the way I charge these batteries so they will last longer (take better care of them).

What this is not: a review of batteries and chargers, I simply don't have the resources to test different chargers and batteries. After reading the battery charger manual, researching on-line, and reading the results I have gathered so far, I'd change the way I charge these rechargeable batteries for longer service period for my own use.

What I am using:

Charger - LaCrosse BC-900

Batteries -

• Duracell 2650 mAH x 16 - Recently ordered off of ebay.
• Panasonic 2300 mAH x 12 - Purchased from CostCo, maybe 12-16 months old. 2 of which have been hiding in a remote control, glad I caught them!
• Energizer 2100 mAH x 4 - Purchased from HomeDepot, about 18 months old.
• LaCrosse 2400 mAH x 4 - Came with my battery charger.
• Sanyo 1850 x 2 - older - I have these guys since 2003, came with my Minolta 7Hi.
• RayoVac 1800 x 2 older - Oldest of the bunch, maybe 2002-2003.

Sanyos and the RayoVacs are relegated to maglite duties now due to their age. When I put the Energizer cells in my Pentax DL, it will not power on. But Energizers can power my flashes without any issue.

The charger comes with 4 modes:

1. Charge
2. Discharge
3. Refresh
4. Test

Here's a link to the instruction: http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/900/manual.pdf

I purchased mine from Thomas Distributing for about $60 including shipping. It came with 4 AA and 4 AAA batteries, converter to C cells, carrying case. Since I am not affiliated with anyone, I don't think I need to provide a link to Thomas Distributing, but I am sure you can do a search and easily find them on line, and I have to say the experience was painless, and very quick shipping. But shop around, I am sure you may be able to find a good deal.

Test is not completed yet, so I'll post that when I get a chance to refresh my Energizer, Sanyo, and the RayoVac batteries, that's the result I am waiting for.

I'll also post some reference sites, Steve's Digicam and Imaging-Resource all have very good reivews, and they definitely tested more chargers and different brand of batteries.

Printing Contact Sheet in Picasa 2

I have to admit, I have never figured out how to use PhotoShop. I tried it a few times at work, but just never could remember those commands. Because of my handicap, I use Picasa 2 about 85% of the time, it does what I need to do, easily, and handles the printing fairly well. The other 15 %, just Windows viewer and IrfanView for quick sizing of files.

I had a need to print out a catelog of pictures, so using Picasa, there's a fairly easy way to print contact sheets. On a 8.5 x 11 photo paper, you can print 42 images on a single sheet (6 x 7). The final print out includes date, time, and file name under each picture.

The Process is fairly simple. If the pictures are all in the same folder, just select the pictures you wish to print, either by pressing the CTRL key and then click on the picture, or click each image you'd like, and press HOLD on the bottom of the screen, then click another image, just remember to press HOLD. This will work well if you have to go to another folder to select the image.

Once you have selected all of the pictures you wish to print, click on Folder option (pull down menu option), then select Print Contact Sheet option. You can also use keyboard short cut by pressing CTRL-Shift-P.

This is a nice way to catelog your photos.

Site Spotlight

Check out this creativity extraordinaire.

You'll find a lot more in Chema-Madoz.

Enjoy.

tattoo removal

Saw this on Eolake's blog, have to link it here. Funny, :~)

Photo Club Field Trip

We had a field trip for our photography club tonight. We went to Hance Partners, a professional darkroom located in Flagstaff. We met the owner Richard Jackson, and his assistant Peter. It was a very informative, educational, and eye opening visit, and Richard and Peter were really great hosts, gave a great tour of the facility, and answered a lot of questions.

Hance Partners specializes in using IlfoChrome paper (formerly known as CibaChrome) for museum/gallery quality output. The equipment they use was simply amazing: we were shown the scanners, photo workstations, the lightjet printer, and then the large developer. The amount of time spent on one image is just amazing (from scan to print). It is possible to go through several proof sheets, before the final copy is made with photographer's approval. Now I understand the cost, I'd say its worth every penny!

Many photographers' work were displayed on the wall: Steve McCurry, Joe McNally, Thomas Mangelsen, Howard Schatz, etc. The works was simply amazing. I have only seen some of the work on web sites, seeing it in prints is a totaly different experience.

Check out their web site at http://www.hancepartners.com/.

Their about page says:
"Welcome to Hance Partners: master fine art printers, utter perfectionists, and specialists in the art and science of attaining the "what if".

After seeing their work, I agree.