Here are some old water droplets shots I’ve taken…. I have better ones I have to find them.

The Strobist has just posted a helpfull post on getting started on these shots:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-photograph-water-drops-with-one.html

I did mine with some aquarium lights, an aquarium water pump I later used an off camera flash.

[Show as slideshow]

So my G9 stopped working this weekend… It was working fine all day when I went back to turn it on it just wouldnt (I recharged the battery hoping it would be the cause of the problem….but it wasnt). So after searching the web and finding lots of other people with the same problem I stumbled upon:

http://www.myfixtips.com/blog/digital-camera/who-killed-my-g9-133.htm

Canon G9 defect

Canon G9 defect

This great guide basically shows that the G9s were assembled without using screw lock gel to keep the screws from loosening. So if you have a G9 for over a year chances are that there are two screws inside the camera that are hanging loose and will soon fall and shortcircuit your camera’s DC or main board.

I dis-assembled mine using that guide and found the same exact thing pictured on the guide. One of the screws was still attached (barely) the other was inbetween the circuit boards and had already short circuit my board. I emailed Canon tech support and havent heard back from them yet. It seems that people that sent the cameras back for repair get charged ~$250 for this. It seems crazy that a manufactor design flaw that is in effect a timebomb is not covered by a recall. I’m a long time Canon user and the handling of this will affect my opinion of further purchases/recomendations of this brand.

The Canon G10 is basically the same design…. will it be affected?

**UPDATE** 6/18/2009

I sent it in, and explained the problem (out of warranty) they wanted to charge $180. After speaking with an manager they said they would fix it free of charge without a warranty on the repair.

Canon handled my concerns and was able to help me. I really appreciate the service and will continue to support them by purchasing/recomending their products.

**UPDATE** 11/02/2009

My G9 died again last weekend same symptoms, same problem… I called then again and they want $150 for the repair which sounds crazy for a flaw that was never addressed. I’m really disapointed with Canon and the next upgrade I will switch to Nikon over this. I cant support a company that does not stand behind their products/customers.

While Apple says that OSX doesn’t need defragmentation due to the OS built-in method of coordinating disk writes blah blah blah…If you use your MacBook for awhile you’ll notice it will begin to lag and become less stable. Windows users can just run the defrag utility that comes with Windows, Apple users will have to purchase something (it figures right?) iDefrag is my choice,  it works well.

There’s a catch though, if you want to do a “Full” defragmentation you’ll have to connect your Apple computer to another Mac and connect them via Firewire (if you have a new MacBook you’re screwed since that port has been omitted,  you can no longer even grab video from your camcorder).

Start the MacBook that you want to defragment and keep the “t” pressed on it. It will boot in FireWire mode and its drive will be available to the other Mac for defragmentation…