Jürgen's profileDigital Imaging SoftwarePhotosBlogLists Tools Help
    November 21

    cPicture 2.3.7

    Minor service update for the new networking namespaces in Windows 7.

    Download cPicture 2:
    http://cpicture.net/de/cpicture.exe
    http://cpicture.net/en/cpicture.exe

    November 15

    VRlight updated

    VRlight is a Silverlight solution to display virtual tours (VR) of 360x180 panoramic images in HTML pages.

    The update includes Hotspots and Infospots.

     

    Please see http://cpicture.net/vrlight/ for a sample.

    New in the package is VRedit, an editor to create and edit the configuration file:

     

    See http://cpicture.net/VRlight/tutorial.html

     

    November 14

    Housing market Redmond, WA

    and overpriced wooden houses on an example on 17405 NE 35th Pl Redmond, WA 98052.
    I have been looking for a house in the Redmond area and this one seemed a good fit.

     

    To make sure everything is OK I asked a building inspection to get me all the details. They did a great job and had a level of detail that probably not even the seller was aware. Well, he was probably not interested in doing anything for the house anyway.
    Roof was leaking and had only a few years left. Water heater was leaking, had rust and need replacement even it was advertized as newly replaced. The water heater was purchased 1997. 
    Kitchen fan lead to nowhere. Literally. We couldn't find where the stream ended. The fan in the restroom and bath ended in the open space under the roof.
    The roof and the floors had no isolation; not good for the cold season.

    But that was nothing against this one which another inspection I ordered revealed:
    Drainage problems under the house. All rain water drains were clogged and caused the water level in the crawl space to rise. But this didn't seem to bother the current owner since they had a sump pump installed. Great. What the owner didn't know was that all crawl spaces were affected. And let’s hope there is no power outage to stop the pump.
    All the water softened the soil under the base when a heavy rainstorm was near, and there are a lot of in this area.
    The floor in the master bedroom was not level and the door was not in square. The side flashings on the roof were missing causing rain water to get in the wall.
    A rotten porch roof support at the entrance of the house next to the unfinished stairs was the least of the problems. Pest control: The roof and the crawl space were housing rodents.
    The garage door didn’t close fully and there were no sediment trap on the gas pipes. I also have some nice pictures of mold from the bathroom. Guess I stop for now. It’s a old wooden house.

    And everything was advertised as a newly renovated and in great shape.
    Guess what, the house was put new on the market and in just one week found a new owner. Well sort of. Sale is pending at the time of writing.
    As I say for this market: You need only to make the sale.

    November 12

    cPicture 2.3.6

     
    cPicture 2.3.6 features a new style to create HTML picture pages:
     
     

    See http://cpicture.net/html/index2.html for a sample.

    How to use the new style: Download LightBox from http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/#download , unpack the zip file and copy the 3 folders (css, images and js) to your web folder where you store your HTML file and images. cPicture takes care of the rest.

    Note: Do not copy the file 'index.html' from the LightBox package since it might override the 'index.html' of your web project.

    Download the latest version from cPicture:
    http://cpicture.net/de/cpicture.exe
    http://cpicture.net/en/cpicture.exe

    November 02

    cPicture 2.3.4

    cPicture is updated to version 2.3.4 to include a setting for the numerical orientation value in the EXIF header using exiftool.

    http://cpicture.net/de/cpicture.exe
    http://cpicture.net/en/cpicture.exe

    October 23

    cPicture 2.3.2

    cPicture is updated to version 2.3.2 to include an improved drag&drop handling.

    http://cpicture.net/de/cpicture.exe
    http://cpicture.net/en/cpicture.exe

    October 22

    Windows 7

    Windows 7 is available today, October 22. ,2009!

     

    September 29

    Downloadtube.com added video tutorial

    Downloadtube.com added a has made a video tutorial showing the installation,
    the main interface, the main features of cPicture:
     
     
     
     
     
    September 25

    cPicture 2.3

    cPicture is updated to version 2.3 to include a new EXIF data writer using the exiftool by Phil Harvey.
     
    • Geotagging, EXIF data editing, IPTC and adding comments
      are now using a widely accepted standard process using the exiftool.
    • Added support for Vista and Windows7.
    Be ready for the future, get your copy now!
    September 12

    Panorama Player Comparisons

    What panorama players are available? How does the choice of player affect the way a panorama performs? Is the image rendered differently? How long does it take to load? These examples show over a dozen different panorama players, each using basic settings and copies of the same source images, to help find answers to questions such as these.

    The panorama players shown here include the venerable (but possibly fading) QuickTime VR itself, a number of Flash and Java-based players (well-known and otherwise), Shockwave, a couple of entirely custom-coded engines, and one that uses Microsoft's Silverlight platform. Among these are the best in the panorama industry, although it is up to you to decide which those are.

    http://www.panoramaphotographer.com/comparisons/

    August 25

    VRlight - VR tour using Silverlight

    VRlight is a Silverlight based multi-platform solution to display virtual tours (VR) of 360x180 panoramic images.
    VRlight uses equirectangular images in JPEG and has four display modes:

    • Vertical stacked images
    • Horizontal stacked images
    • Dropdown box with tour names
    • Interactive map, see example here

    Please see http://cpicture.net/vrlight/ for a sample.

     

    June 27

    Panasonic ZS3

    Panasonic ZS3


    Beispielbilder für min/max Brennweite und Macro. Alle Werte entsprechend für 35mm.

    Sample pictures for min/max Zoom and macro. All values in 35mm equivalent.

     

    Die ZS3 verfügt über eine minimale Brennweite von 4mm, entsprechend 25mm für 35mm. Normalerweise haben Kompaktkameras keine so kurze Brennweite.

    The ZS3 has a starting focal length of 4mm, which is 25mm in 35mm equivalent. This is an exceptional value for a compact!


     

    Gegenlicht
    Flare

    In diesem Beispiel wurde die Kamera direkt in die Sonne gehalten. Die Gegenlichteffekte sind zwar zu erkennen, aber sehr gering.

    In this sample the camera is pointed towards the sun. Flare is visible, but under control.

     

    25mm, 1/1000, f/5.6

     
    25mm, 1/1000, f/5.6


    Die Ausschnittsvergrößerung zeigt den wirkungsvollen Bildstabilisator. Wie so üblich bei Kameras mit ähnlich kleinem Sensor und hoher Megapixelzahl, zeigt diese Kamera selbst bei der niedrigsten Empfindlichkeit von ISO80 schon sehr sichtbares Rauschen.

    The crop shows the effective image stabilization. As with all other cameras with similiar sensor sizes and high megapixel count, this camera shows a lot of color noise even with the lowest sensitivity of ISO 80.

    300mm, 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 80

    1:1 Ausschnitt
    1:1 crop

     

    300mm, 1/1300, f/6.3, ISO 80

    1:1 Ausschnitt
    1:1 crop

     

    300mm, 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 80

    1:1 Ausschnitt
    1:1 crop


     

    25mm, 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 80

     
    300mm, 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 80

    1:1 Ausschnitt
    1:1 crop

     

    25mm, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 80

    300mm, 1/400, f/4.9, ISO 80

     

    Der Digitalzoom ist genauso schlecht wie bei jedem anderen Kameramodell auch. Schließlich wird ja nur ein kleinerer Bildbereich vergrößert.

    The digital zoom is as bad as with any other camera model. Its only an enlargement of a smaller area.

    1:1 Ausschnitt, 300mm mit 4x Digital-Zoom
    1:1 crop, 300mm with 4x digital zoom

    1200mm, 1/400, f/4.9, ISO 80

     

    300mm, 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 80

     

    1:1 Ausschnitt, 300mm mit 4x Digital-Zoom
    1:1 crop, 300mm with 4x Digital zoom

     

    1200mm, 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 80


    Macro

    Die Fokussierung ist sehr schnell und der minimale Abstand zwischen Objektiv und Objekt beträgt nur wenige cm. Der Objektivschatten ist oft ein Problem bei diesen kurzen Objektabständen und die Bilder weisen starke Farbsäume auf.

    Focusing is fast and the minimal distance is about an inch from the front lens. The shadow of the lens barrel is often a problem with those short distances and the color fringe at the edges is quite significant.

    25mm, 1/80s, f/3.3, ISO 80

     

    25mm, 1/100s, f/3.3, ISO 80

     

    1:1 Ausschnitt
    1:1 crop

     

    Betriebsart iA, automatisches Umschalten als Macro
    iA mode, auto switch to Macro mode

     

     

    June 14

    Panoramic view Space Needle Park, Seattle, WA

    Panoramic view Space Needle Park, Seattle, WA

    Build in 1962 for the World's fair, the Space needle is a 184m high building in Seattle, WA.

    The panorama was shot from the small park west of the Space Needle handhold (without a tripod).

    Nikon D700, Sigma 8mm/3.5, ISO200, 1/320s, f/9

    http://digitalvr.cpicture.net/Space-Needle-Park.html

     

    Panoramic view Space Needle Fountain, Seattle, WA

    Panoramic view Space Needle Fountain, Seattle, WA

    Build in 1962 for the World's fair, the Space needle is a 184m high building in Seattle, WA.

    The panorama was shot between the fountain and the Space Needle handhold (without a tripod).
    This place is also quite busy and I had to wait about 15min to get a view not covered
    completly from the cars waiting for valet parking.

     

     Nikon D700, Sigma 8mm/3.5, ISO200, 1/320s, f/9

    http://digitalvr.cpicture.net/Space-Needle-Fountain.html

     

    June 07

    cPicture 2.2

    cPicture 2.2 is updated to include the new lcms-1.18a color profile engine for accurate display and the new maps from http://www.bing.com/maps/ for the geo tagging.
    There is also added optimization for start-up and runtime which makes cPicture fly on your new computer. Try it! cPicture.exe
     
     

     
    May 14

    cPicture 2.1.7

    Updated time display for movies (minor update).
    Try it! cPicture.exe
    March 18

    cPicture 2.1.5

    Minor update to add sorting support for search results.
    Download Version 2.1.5 here: cPicture.exe
    February 05

    cPicture 2.1.3

    Added new Raw image preview processing.
    Browsing through your Raw files is now as fast as your computer.
    Try it. cPicture.exe
    January 30

    cPicture 2.1.2

    cPicture is updated to version 2.1.2 to include:
     
    • Create a Web page with your pictures directly from your Raw files!
      Webpage feature is not limited to only JPEG format anymore.
      Select the pictures and create a website with all pages and picture files with the Website feature (Ctrl+H). All files are in a flat folder structure and can be copied directly to any website to have your own pictures online!
    • Fix for Wallpaper support for Windows 7 beta.