Credit card frustrations

People keep telling me that cash is dead and we'll all be using credit cards to buy everything.
Well the way things seem to be going, that ain't gonna happen any time soon.
The reason... It's getting increasingly difficult to process credit card mail orders.

Let me explain the problem:
When we process a mail order we need these details:

1. card number (plus expiry date and CV2 code from the back)
2. the cards billing address

We then input the card details into the streamline machine followed by:

1. the numbers in the billing address
2. the numbers in the postcode of the billing address

And that's where everything goes horribly wrong. You see, these two addresses look the same, read the same, and if you used them to post things they'd both work:

joe bloggs, flat 9
7 any street
anytown, NW4
1AB

joe bloggs
flat 9, 7 any street
anytown
NW4 1AB

But in the first address the 9 is on the 'name' line so it doesn't count and the first part of the postcode is on the wrong line, so the 4 won't be part of the postcode numbers, but it will be in the address numbers.
So we'll type in: 97 and 14. But the machine want's: 74 and 1.
We call the customer and tell him that the address appears to be wrong (but we don't know why, just that it's wrong), he insists it's right (not surprisingly, he thinks he knows his own address!)
We can use a voice authorisation service, but this costs £3 each time, and it doesn't always help.
The only way to solve this problem is for the customer to phone his bank and ask them to check his address details AND that they match the details the card processing companies have.

So, if you order something from us and we call back asking all sorts of strange questions about your address, this is the reason....
.... Some keyboard monkey in a bank somewhere, charged with the job of copying addresses from one database to another, screwed up.

Sorry.

Capture One v4 Beta Finally here!

Blimey, I've forgotten how long we've been waiting for this!

Get the beta here, you might be surprised how different it is ;-)

let me know what you think in the comments below......

Test your skill in colour

These are some cool games that test your colour perception:
http://livelygrey.com/exercises/submenu.html

You just have to put the colour swatches in the right order, kinda like the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test.

Enjoy.

Canon 1Ds MkIII waiting list opened

We've never bothered to have waiting lists before but we know demand for the 1Ds MkIII is going to outstrip supply for some time.

A formal list is the best way of ensuring fair distribution of the limited stock.

Basically, we're taking a £50 non-returnable deposit, once a unit is available you'll then pay the balance.
The deposit is there to stop people putting themselves on the list loads of times and selling their places when the cameras become available.

Sign up here to get on the list.

Canon Launch 2 cameras and 3 lenses.

Well we didn't see this coming ;-)
direct from Canon:

EOS 1DSmk3

- 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS sensor
- 5fps – 56 Large JPEG burst/12 in Raw
- Hi-precision 19 cross-type AF points
- "Live View" Mode
- Dual “DIGIC III” Processors
- ISO 100-1600 (L:50 H:3200)
- Highlight Tone Priority
- 14-bit A/D convertor
- UDMA card compatiable
- Picture Styles
- EOS Integrated Cleaning System
- 3.0" LCD Screen
- Lighter Magnesium Alloy body
- Optional Wireless File Transmitter (WFT-E2) with External HDD and GPS
compatiability
- EOS Solutions Disc with RAW processing software and Picture Styles Editor


EOS 40D

- 10.1MP CMOS sensor
- 6.5fps - Up to 75 Large/Fine JPEG burst
- Hi-precision 9 cross-type AF points
- “DIGIC III” Processor
- ISO 100-1600 (H:3200)
- Larger & Brighter viewfinder
- 14-bit A/D convertor
- Picture Styles
- 3 Custom Modes
- EOS Integrated Cleaning System
- "Live View" Mode
- 3.0" LCD Screen
- Strong Magnesium Alloy body
- Optional Wireless File Transmitter (WFT-E3) with External HDD and GPS
compatiability
- Complete compatibility with all Canon EF & EF-S lenses and EX Speedlites


EF14mm f/2.8L USM

- Replacement to the existing EF 14mm f/2.8L USM
- Improved edge performance
- Circular Aperture
- Dust and weather sealing
- 0.2m Focusing distance
- Latest USM algorithms for fast AF
- Flare and ghosting suppressed


EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS & EF-S 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 IS USM

- Newly developed 4-stop Image Stabilezer units
- Lightweight and compact
- High image quality for all focal length
- Closer focusing distances
- Improved handling
- Lens coatings to minimise ghosting and flare

Amazon jump the gun and launch Canon's 1DsMKIII (and 40D too!)

Yep, thanks to an overzealous web monkey at Amazon we now know all about Canon's next super camera!
The replacement for the 1DsMkII will be the 1DsMkIII (no surprises there then!)
The important facts are:

• 21.1MP (full frame of course)
• 5fps
• Dual DigicIII parallel processors
• 45 point AF (same as the 1DIII)
• 3 inch live view LCD
• 14 bit A/D
• Self cleaning sensor
• Dual CF and SD cards
• New battery pack (same as the 1DMKIII)
• WFT-E2 compatable
• Same USB port (with cable clamp) as the 1DMkIII

So, this is the camera we've all been dreaming of? Well it ain't far off perfect. The extra bit depth in the RAW will be worth seeing and I can't wait to see the live view in use in the studio (how long will it take before the chip over heats and turns off?)
My big worry is how many extra lens faults we're going to see with all that extra resolution. Give them their dues though, Canon have thought about that and added a Lens Aberration Correction Function to Digital Photo Pro. Apparently this will work with 12 different EOS cameras and 29 EF and EF-S lenses. Sounds a bit like the fancy Hasselblad system to me. So long as Canon don't use it as an excuse to make crap lenses under the pretence that it will all be OK in the software (not that I'm suggesting Hasselblad would do that)!
Check out the full story at Engadget.
And thanks to Jim in Brum for flagging this up!
I give it until Tuesday before Canon make the launch official.
Oh, and Amazon made the same booboo with Canon's 30D replacement imaginatively titled 40D.

Updates

Added this extract from the D-Lite DVD to the D-Lite category and product pages.

Updates

Camera Armor now up with a joint permajet button on the front page.

Camera Armor Review and the Duck Tour

Last weekend I went on the famous london duck tour (thank you vicky xxx). Incase you haven't heard of it, it's a bus tour of some of the most popular london sights. The unique thing about it though is the bus itself. You're driven around in a world war 2 DUKW amphibious truck. This allows the tour to go places that normal tour busses don't go, like in the Thames!
Anyway, it turns out that although they give a great view, the back seats aren't the best place to be once you get in the water. Thanks to the boarding steps, there's quite a lot of splashery.
I had two cameras with me on the tour, a 1DMkIII with a 100-400LIS, which was of course fine with getting splashed, given that it's fully weatherproofed. I also had my own 5D with a sigma 12-24.
Now, out of the box the 5D isn't weatherproofed but luckily mine was dressed in a Camera Armor rubber suit. I'd been trying this out for a week or so beforehand and liked the 'knock protection' it afforded but with all the water flying around it really started to show it's worth.
Don't get me wrong, Camera Armor won't make your camera waterproof, far from it. What it does do though is stop 80% of the water from touching the camera. It comes with a universal lens hood made from the same rubber which you have to stretch over the front of the lens. The hood will offer some impact protection, especially for the cheaper lenses that come in camera+lens kits. The 12-24 I was using had few moving parts (just the focus and zoom rings) so I wasn't too fussed about water ingress and it has a fixed metal petal shaped hood which protects the lens well on it's own so I didn't bother using the rubber one.
The Camera Armor has flaps and access holes so you can easily get to the battery and memory compartments. It also has copies of all the cameras buttons moulded onto it with raised lettering mirroring the cameras own printed labels. Of course, because you're pressing the buttons through a layer of rubber they do feel different, less positive, but you get used to this and just learn to press a bit harder (just a tiny bit, nothing serious).
One of the best parts is the clear plastic screen protector that fits over the LCD. This really does give good good protection to possibly the most vulnerable part of the camera. It's a separate, removable part, which is a good thing as I found (ironically) that it does scratch quite easily!
The rubbery feel of the skin actually made the camera feel more secure whilst holding it, but it does make the grip physically bigger (which suited me fine, but may not be so great if you don't have gorilla hands) in fact, this could be a very good thing on cameras such as the 400D which seem to be ergonomically designed for petite ladies and the Japanese (which makes sense really, as they are a Japanese company!).

All in all, I like Camera Armor skins and for DSLRs like the 350D which have a plastic body it seems like a no-brainer. £25 to £40 buys you great protection from knocks, splashes and grubby hands (did I forget to mention the incident involving a small child's lollypop covered fingers?).
Pros:

• Improved rubbery feel grip.
• LCD protector.
• protection from dings and scratches improves second hand value
• Improved ergonomics with smaller cameras and bigger hands.

Cons:

• Reduced 'feel' of the buttons (especially the shutter release)
• LCD protector scratches easily.
• Reduced ergonomics with larger cameras and smaller hands.

Place your order here, available for most current Canon and Nikon DSLRs.

Canon 1DMkIII Firmware released!

Hot in my inbox this morning was an e-mail from Canon about the long awaited Firmware update for the 1D MkIII.
in their own words it fixes:

This firmware update (Version
1.1.0) incorporates the following
improvements and fixes.

Improves the look of images when played back on the LCD monitor.
Fixes a problem in the operation of the dials (Main, Quick Control, Vertical-grip Main).
Reduces the tendency to autofocus on the background instead of the main subject when shooting in AI Servo AF under certain conditions.
Corrects errors in the Italian and Simplified Chinese menu screens.
Fixes a rare phenomenon in which the camera cannot start normally when the battery is inserted. (Version 1.0.9 only)

The upgrade can be downloaded here.

Note the very quiet mention of a focusing fix!

PhaseOne P30+ Digital Back frozen in dry ice, still works! (video)

To demonstrate how rugged their digital backs are, Phase One decided to drop a £13,000 P30+ into a bucket of dry ice until it reached -55°C.
Amazingly, after putting in a fresh battery and scraping the frost off of the display it worked perfectly! (Unlike the stress ball which accompanied it that went solid.)

Check out the video of the mad Danish Tech!