Just a quick note to say thanks to the people who are using FlickrViewer, and who are providing me with useful feedback.

I’m going to try and get a release out soon to add a few enhancements:

• Ability to turn off caching for people who are unable to create cache files
• Extra diagnostic information when errors are encountered to help when solving problems
• Ability to turn off link to flickr photo page

I’ll be looking at adding the ability to display multiple flickr albums to a future version of FlickrViewer too, but this is lower priority than the above points.

I’m also looking at doing a ‘lite’ version. This will allow you to generate an XML config file (imageData.xml) based on a Flickr album, but once done this will be static. This will be useful for people with crippled PHP web hosts.

I came across a nifty little Flash applet today called SimpleViewer. SimpleViewer is “a free, customizable Flash image viewing application“.

It’s pretty nifty I have to say, so I wrote a little bit of PHP (during my lunch break) to get SimpleViewer to pull in photos from a specified photo set in my Flickr account.

I’ve called this bit of code (rather imaginatively) FlickrViewer. You can see it in action here.

At the moment it’s a first draft. I’m happy for others to use it too, but I’d like to get a couple of people to ‘alpha/beta test’ it first. If you’re interested in getting involved, leave a comment below.

If you don’t want to help test, but want to use it on your site, just watch this category on my blog - I’ll update it when the code is available for download.

The flickr blog recently published a list of books that deal with the flickr API. This is quite good timing - I’ve been thinking about doing a little project with this API for a while now… should be able to tell you more about that in the next few months.

Anyway, the API is very well documented so you can probably get by without a book, but it’s often interesting flicking throughs these things to give you inspiration. Call me old fashioned too, but I still prefer to read a printed book than squint away at my computer screen!

Canon today has unveiled the EOS 30D, a refined version of the EOS 20D that shares the same image sensor and numerous other core camera components but adds a 2.5-inch (diagonal) rear LCD, increased burst depth, Picture Styles, a shutter with a higher duty cycle rating and a long list of other camera usability changes.

This has been anticipated for a long time, so I’m glad Canon have finally announced it so everyone can stop guessing what the specification will be!

Looks like a decent camera (of course), but I won’t be replacing my trusty 20D… not unless I get an EOS 5D

More information here, here and here.

view the slideshow

Took a few photos at the Send Marsh fireworks display on Saturday (November 5th). Couldn’t be bothered with a tripod for the actual fireworks, so these are just some photos of the bonfire. Taken with Canon EOS 20D, EF 50mm f/1.4, mostly at ISO 1600.

I’ve finally managed to get some photos processed (coverted from RAW to jpeg, that is), so here, for your viewing pleasure, they are:

Mini reunion in Birmingham

Weekend in Bristol

I’ve still got the photos from Ed & Sophie’s wedding, and Philip & Katies to do, so keep an eye on my flickr photo stream.

Could this be the one?

I’ve been looking for a compact digital camera for a long time! I’ve been thinking that the Fujifilm FinePix F10 would have been a good choice for a while for several reasons:

• It has a high ISO rating of 1600, meaning you can use it in low light
• It has a large 2.5″ LCD (though I hear it is rather low resolution)
• It has a 36mm lens (in 35mm terms). Not great but wider than a lot of compact cameras

However, it has been let down by the total absence of any manual control. The othe minor annoyance is the lack of a wide angle lens - 36mm (in 35mm film terms) is it’s widest focal length.

So how does the Fujifilm FinePix F11 improve on these features? Well, it seems to be the same as the F10, except it has manual controlls and a higher resolution display. So will I get it? I think so. Probably. I guess I’ll wait for some previews/reviews, and it’s not out until November so something better may come out from another company. Still, this looks like the best thing I’ve seen so far

Right. An early night it is!

Ricoh have just announced a new compact digital camera: the GR Digital.

Now I don’t make a habit of mentioning stuff like this on my blog, but I’ve been in the market for a compact digital for some time. My criteria have always been:

1. Good wide angle lens - ideally a 28mm lens (in 35mm terms) - because it’s going to be used indoors for group/people photos
2. Good low light performance - because it’s going to be used indoors for group/people photos
3. Decent sized LCD screen - because my eyesight ain’t what it used to be!
4. And of course, excellent image quality.

Those are my main criteria. So why do I mention this Ricoh? Well, it looks like it might come close to filling the gap. It has a 28mm f/2.4 lens, which should be great indoors and in low light. It has ISO speeds up to 800 in RAW mode, and 1600 in JPEG (not sure why RAW can’t go up to 1600, but there we go). It also has a 2.5 inch LCD, which is quite generous.

The only real failing (on paper) is that the lens is a fixed focal length. I never use a long zoom, but it’s nice to have something that goes to 70 or 80mm so you can take nice head shots of people. And with an aperture of f/2.4, I would imagine these could be quite nice. Ah well, you can’t have everything.

Just have to wait for the reviews I guess…