Mac Malware

I use a Mac.  I have since 2006.  One of the things I love about using a Mac is that there is very little malware or viruses.  That doesn’t mean you are completely safe though.  Just like on a Windows system, the easiest way you can get infected is when you are not paying attention.

I am a pretty savvy computer user.  But recently I was on a conference call and taking care of a personal task at the same time, when I quickly without paying attention, clicked on a link to update my flash player.  First off, Flash is crap. If you can avoid Flash do so at all costs.  But, if you need Flash, do yourself a favor and install it from the official site: (https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/).

Well in this case, I did not go to the official site but clicked the very official looking button to update flash.  When I did that, it immediately downloaded a DMG file, and we were off to the races.  I spent about three hours searching various sites and cleaning off my machine.

Tonight, the same exact thing happened to my wife.  This time, I decided to write everything down it took to clean it off.  These programs that are installed, from what I can tell, are not spyware.  They are unwanted applications (IMO) designed to make money.  Essentially, they try to get you to sign up for extra services and hijack browser sessions in an attempt for clicks.  People may actually use these applications.  But for the most part, the company that made them (PCVARK) is using very aggressive and shady tactics to try and sell its product.  The three applications that were installed (that I could find after deep digging) were: MegaBackup, Advanced Mac Cleaner, and Mac-File-Opener.  The last one in particular was tough to find as the only clue it is there is when you click on a file that the system doesn’t recognize.  When you do that it hijacks your Mac file opener and redirects you to a website that tries to get you to download more crap.

So without further adieu, here are my notes from everything that had to be cleaned and where I found the information.

Potential browser Issues:

It’s more than likely the browsers you use had settings changed.

1. In your browser, open up the setting or preferences and check the following:
   1. Homepage or new tabs (check what homepage opens or what new tabs open by default)
   2. Home Button (check the action that occurs when you click the home button)
   3. Search Engine (you were probably redirected to a sponsors search engine)
   4. Extensions Installed (I didn’t find any new extensions but you should check)
   5. Startup pages (What pages start up when your browser starts up)

Malware programs installed:

Below are instructions to removing files on your system.  Without explaining at each line, the easiest way to remove files is to:

1. Open Finder
2. On the Menu Bar, click on Go…Go to folder…
3. Copy and paste the paths that I have below

Mac File Opener

This one is a bit complicated as it puts itself in crazy places and is not an app as much as a replacement for the mac file opener.  Here is what I can find:

Resources:

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/threat-analysis/2016/08/pcvark-plays-dirty/

Go to the following directories and remove the following files or folders:

1. ~/Library/ and delete the folder Mac-File-Opener
2. ~/Library/  and delete the file com.pcvark.Mac-File-Opener.plist
3. ~/Library/Caches/ and delete the file File com.pcvark.Mac-File-Opener

Advanced Mac Cleaner

1. Close the program (Command-Alt-Escape and select Advance Mac Cleaner and force close)
2. Delete login item for Advanced Mac Cleaner
   1. Open System Preferences (Apple Menu)
   2. Go to Users & Groups
   3. Click on Login Items for your account
   4. Click on the Advanced Mac Cleaner and delete
3. Open finder and delete the application from application folder
4. Remove the following files or folders:
   1. ~/Library/ and delete the folder Advanced Mac Cleaner
   2. ~/Library/Logs and delete the files Advanced Mac Cleaner.log; helperamc.log
   3. ~/Library/Application Support and delete the folders Advanced Mac Cleaner; amc
   4. ~/Library/Caches and delete the files com.pcv.hlpramc; com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner
   5. ~/Library/Saved Application State and delete the files com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.savedState
   6. ~/Library/Preferences and delete the files com.pcv.hlpramc.plist; com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.plist
   7. ~/Library/LaunchAgents and delete the files com.pcv.hlpramc.plist; com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.plist
   8. ~/Library/Cookies/ and delete the file com.PCvark.Advanced-Mac-Cleaner.binarycookies
5. Empty the Trash

For more info see (https://howtoremove.guide/remove-advanced-mac-cleaner-virus/)

MegaBackup

1. Close the program completely
2. Open finder and delete the application from application folder
3. If it pops up, kill the popup window (Cmd-Alt-Escape)
4. Remove the following files or folders:
   1. ~/Library/Preferences/ and delete the file com.megabackup.MegaBackup.plist
   2. ~/Library/Preferences/ and delete the file com.megabackup.MegaBackupAgent.plist
   3. ~/Library/Caches/ and delete the files com.megabackup.MegaBackup; com.megabackup.MegaBackupAgent
   4. ~/Library/Logs/ and delete the folder MegaBackup
5. Empty the trash

Obtained from this article: (https://howtoremove.guide/how-to-delete-megabackup-virus-mac/)

Conclusion

When you are done, reboot your machine and make sure nothing wonky appears.  If you want, you can open Activity Monitor and look at everything running.  There are sometimes hundreds of processing running so this is very hard to tell what is legitimate and what might be a problem, but searching online for process names will quickly tell you what is a problem.

I hope this helps someone, happy hunting.

Flash Photography Primer

Flash photography is an interesting beast.  Most people don’t realize how complicated it can get when try to control under and over exposure, along with ambient light, white balance, and flash position.  I am by no means any type of expert and have not figured out all the nuances. I struggle with achieving consistent flash photography.  So instead of going into too much detail on guide numbers and calculating aperture values, I am simply going to give you a quick overview of when using flash photography will help and how to be effective.

ISO and Aperture

One thing you need to remember about flash photography is what aspects of a picture does the flash affect. Simply put, the flash only affects the aperture and ISO. If you setup a flash with a constant power, and you want the picture to be brighter, you would open the aperture, or turn up the ISO. Shutter speed is not affected by the flash. As you will see when I talk about [slow sync], shutter speed affects how much ambient light reaches the picture.

Outdoors

On a bright sunny day, it is a great time to use flash photography. This may seem counter intuitive, but the metering mode on your camera’s can sometimes be confused as to light and dark areas. If the sun is at the subjects back, the camera will tend to make the face underexposed. Using a flash will help lighten up the face and make a more even exposure.

Indoors

Sometimes you don’t have an option and your camera uses auto flash to light a scene indoors. Depending on how you have your camera setup, you may have to turn the feature on. In my case, I usually have to tell the camera to enable the flash. In general you need (1) a slow shutter speed, (2) turn up the ISO sensitivity, or (3) a really big aperture, to keep from using a flash indoors. But the downsides are: (1) can cause motion blur, especially with active subjects like kids or pets (2) can cause unnecessary grain in the picture (3) most small camera’s do not have big apertures or big sensors.

Flash Considerations

There are a couple of things to consider when using a flash:

1. Shadows – When a subject is close to a wall or some other object behind them, it tends to make a big ugly shadow on the wall. Try moving the subject out and away from the wall.
2. Red Eye – Red Eye is caused by light from the flash bouncing off the retina and back into the camera lens. Many camera’s use a pre-flash to cause the pupils to dilate, conversely cutting down on red eye. But people do not always look natural with small pupils. If you can afford it, use an external flash. It raises the flash of light above the lens so that when the light bounces back, it does not directly bounce into the lens.
3. Slow Sync – The flash on your camera is quick. There are two things that control how much light is let in from the flash, Aperture and ISO. In other words, if you’re subject is standing in a big, dim gymnasium and you take a standard flash picture, there is a good chance the subject will be lit up but everything behind them will look dark. When using a flash, the absent light in the scene is controlled by how long the shutter is open. This is where slow sync comes into play. [Slow sync] mode basically leaved the shutter open longer than it normally would. So the flash occurs lighting up your subject, and then shutter stays open and is able to capture the light behind the subject. You can also control this using shutter priority or manual mode. I recommend a shutter speed of 1/30 of a second to start until you see how much light gets through. Be careful though, with a slow shutter speed, you can get motion blur.
4. Rear Curtain Sync – The flash is what causes the action to freeze. Rear Curtain Sync freezes the action at the end of the shot by leaving the shutter open a little longer than normal and firing the flash at the end of the shot. It can give a blurry look to a shot with the clear part coming at the end of the shot.

Wireless Sync

Wireless Sync is the method of using one or multiple flashes off the camera synchronized with either a radio device or using slave mode with a flash of light. The nice thing about using an off camera flash is that you can get more consistent looking lighting. Instead of having a blinding flash coming straight from the camera, you can have one or multiple flashes set up off camera to gain better control over shadows. It’s possible to setup 3 point lighting as well so that you can get all aspects of the subject well lit.

As mentioned, you can control off camera flashes in multiple ways. One is with the use of a radio control. There are several different companies that make radio controls for off camera flashes but the most common is Pocket Wizard. By using these devices, you can often gain TTL control. The other method is with off camera flashes that sense a flash of light and react by flashing themselves. Using this method can be less expensive than buying a wireless controller, but you often have to put your flashes in manual mode.

Guide Number

The guide number is a difficult concept to master. It can be relatively easy to understand, but hard to use effectively. To be honest, most often I end up having to experiment with my photos to find the right setting. Here’s how it works.

The manufacturer of the flash will give a guide number rating. You will need to know for which camera the guide rating is for, and what ISO level. For example, my flash has a 60 GN for my Sony NEX–6 at an ISO of 100. That means that the flash is effective out to 60 ft with a constant aperture and the ISO set to 100. If I bring the subject in to 30ft, I have to cut the power. But light falls off following the inverse square law. So at 1/2 the distance, the light from the flash is 4x more powerful (or 2 stops). So you need to cut the power to 1/4. I recommend finding out your guide number and just playing with manual control a little to see your results.

Conclusion

Flash photography can be a difficult subject. I find myself in a constant struggle to know when to use the flash to achieve better results, and when to go without. Flashes are also very expensive, for good reason. If you are contemplating buying a good off camera flash for your camera, I recommend checking out a site like Borrow Lenses where you can rent one for a few days to try.

AT&T Trade In Program – Get Your Upgrade for Free

Last night we upgraded my wife’s phone on AT&T and I am planning on doing the same for my parents phones this weekend.  The AT&T LTE coverage, in the Cincinnati area at least, has gotten much better recently.  I use sporting events as a gage for coverage.  Two weeks ago we went to the Bengals game with 50,000 other people.  Usually Reds and Bengals games are a time when I get a strong signal, but cannot actually get out to the internet due to congestion.  This time, it worked fine at the game which leads me to believe AT&T is catching up.

Anyway, I took a deep look at what it would take to move my wife, and parents over to Verizon.  I looked at the plans up and down and from what I can see, AT&T and Verizon have priced themselves identical.  I looked at 2-3 different plans from each and the monthly charges came out almost exactly the same.  So the decision came down to up front cost.

So what swayed me to stay with AT&T was the trade in, which is the whole point of this post.  Right now, AT&T is offering $200 trade in for the iPhone 4S.  Verizon was only offering $100.  Verizon has free activation from now until Christmas which saves you $35.  But if you are like me trading in a couple of iPhone 4S, you net $65 per iPhone, even after paying activation.

Revision: I should also note that I looked at Gazelle.com which is a great way to trade in your old phones and tablets and Gazelle was only offering $100 for the iPhone 4S.  Sot it makes AT&Ts deal even better.

Here is the link to the AT&T Trade program.  You can check your device and see what it’s worth.

AT&T Trade-In Program

Apple’s 12 Days of Gifts

Apple is offering free movies, music, and books starting the day after Christmas.  They will be giving away one gift everyday.  They are calling it the 12 Days of Gifts and you need to download the app to get the app to be notified each day.  You can download the app here.

Tablet Buying Guide for Kids

I recently went through an exercise for a friend asking what tablet is the best to buy for their kids.  I really focused on the Apple and Amazon tablets because I think for kids, they are really the most protected.  The Google tablets are great, don’t get me wrong.  But the freedom Google give you to load apps from just about anywhere scares me a little when I think about kids using it (or some adults).

I made a spreadsheet allowing you to weight what items you think are important.  I gave 15 different categories ratings and then created a scoring system with weight for each category.  This allows you to weight what you feel is the most important thing to you.

As you can see by my ratings, even though I’m an Apple person all the way, I think the Kindle Fire HDX is the better deal with the iPad Mini with Retina being a close second.  What this does not take into consideration is if you have previous devices.  If you have previous Apple or Kindle devices, I would still recommend sticking with what you know.  Being able to use the same apps on any device and reuse old accessories can be worth a lot down the road.

You can view the spreadsheet I put together with the weights I gave here:  Tablet Rating Guide

If you want to download it and weight the items your self based on what you find most important, you can do so here:  kid%20tablet%20matrix

Photo and Video Management and Backup Strategy

I recently went through an exercise where I consolidated our pictures and videos.  I was already backing everything up but it was all over the place.  So I decided to come up with a solid plan, and test this backup strategy to make sure things worked.  For the record, I have about 20,000 photos and videos that take up about 250GB (videos are usually 10-30 seconds filmed with the phone or camera).  So I needed a way to manage the files so that I could make sure I can find what I need, and recover in the event of an emergency.

This is going to be a fairly complicated post so it takes medium skill level for some of this.  The post is also specific to my workflow, meaning there are some requirements for software applications and platforms you need to follow these guidelines.

Requirements for This Strategy

• Mac – I am a Mac user both at work and home and the photo management side of this workflow requires Aperture
• Aperture ($79) – I used iPhoto for a while but Aperture has much more photo retouching tools.  Many pros use Adobe Lightroom.  It has a very similar style and is an option for Windows users, but is also twice as much.
• Drobo or some External Drive – I use the Drobo to actually store my original files because they take up so much room.  I use the ‘Referenced File’ method in Aperture.
• Two Additional External Drives – This is a requirement if you want to have continuous backups and store them offsite yourself.   If you want to save expense and invest a little upfront, you can skip using a cloud provider and just do this.
• CrashPlan ($59/year) – Really for this requirement, all you need is a program that can run continuous backups to an external drive.  If you however want to have a continuous offsite backup, the application you chose will need to support multiple destinations.  More about CrashPlan later.

Backup Strategy

To make just a general note on backup strategy, I try to follow the 3-2-1 backup plan.  You should have 3 copies of your data, on 2 physical mediums, with 1 location offsite.  You will see from this strategy though, I have taken it a step further and it is more like a 3-2-2 strategy because I keep a copy in the cloud, and at my office.  You can however skip the cloud backup or skip the hard drive rotation strategy to save money.

So enough with the requirements.  Let’s get into the strategies for organization and backup.

Aperture Photo Organization

For management of the photos, I use Aperture and put everything into projects based off the date and project name.  So for example, let’s say I took pictures at a county fair on October 21st, 2013.  I would name the project ‘20131021 – County Fair’.  Naming the date like this at the beginning means you can sort project by date alphabetically.

I tag all photos usually with the names of the people in it, and the type of photo (landscape, portrait, etc).  I also go through and give the good photos a rating, and the beyond repair photos a rejection.  This requires a fair amount of commitment on your part as you have to look at every picture you import.  By doing this though, you can search for keywords and ratings of any photo if you know who was in it, when it was taken, and how much you liked it.  See photo below:

Tagged and rated photos in Aperture

Aperture has a nice method of working with your pictures.  It keeps the original picture intact and separate from the previews.  At the time you import, Aperture takes your originals and stores them in the location you choose, and it creates JPEG previews of your pictures.  All the changes you make to the JPEGs are applied to the previews.  Aperture has two methods for storing your original pictures.  The first method is by storing all your originals and the previews in the Aperture library.  This can cause your library to grow quite large as it has both original pictures, and JPEG previews, plus all the metadata associated with it in the library.  The second method is called ‘referenced originals’ where it stored the originals in another directory, or drive, and then stores the previews and metadata in the Aperture library.

Referenced Original Setup

I use the referenced original method.  I do this for the following reasons:

1. I keep my Aperture library on my local disk so that it is fast and reasonable in size (~70GB)
2. I keep the originals on my Drobo because they take up the majority of space (>250GB)
3. I am able to backup the originals independently of the whole Aperture library to multiple locations.  Since the originals only change on import, you are not backing them up very often.
4. I am able to backup just Aperture metadata and changes to multiple locations

Referenced original is easiest done at the time of import.  Create a directory on your external drive (in my case, my Drobo) for your originals.  When

you import, you reference the location you want to copy the pictures to:

1. Insert your memory card and click on the import button
2. At the top left, select the memory card as the source
3. At the bottom left, select the folder within the aperture library where you want your project to live.  **Note, this is not where the actual files live, it is just a way to organize your project to find it more easily
4. In the middle section, select the photos you wish to import.
   1. TIP – If you are selecting only some of the photos, uncheck all using the button at the top.  The Command-Select the pictures you with to import.  Click the check beside one of the pictures and all selected will be checked.
5. On the right, select the following options
   1. Aperture Library
      1. Destination –  If you picked a folder in #3 it should automatically appear here.
      2. Project name – your new project name from the guidelines above: YYYYMMDD – Project Name
      3. Store Files – If it is not selected, click the drop down and chose the location for originals.  This will be the directory you created on your external drive for the originals.  If you leave it at the default, all files will be stored directly in the Aperture Library
         
   2. Metadata Presets
      1. Creator – Jason Spruance (in my case)
      2. Keywords – Any Keywords you want added to the pictures from the start
   3. Raw + JPEG Pairs
      1. Import – Both (Use RAW as Original)

If you find that you have already imported your pictures directly into the Aperture Library, and you want to change to the referenced model, follow this procedure.

1. Change the name of your project to match the naming standard you want your directory structure to match
2. Select the project, then select the filter at the top right and make sure ‘Show All’ is selected
3. Click inside the projects and hit Command-A to select all pictures
4. Click on the ‘File’ menu, and select ‘Relocate Originals…’
5. In the file pop-up, select the directory you want to store the file
6. Under the options, check the following
   1. Subfolder Format: Project Name
   2. Name Format: Original File Name

That will move your originals to their own directory.  It will be sorted by project name which is why I use YYYYMMDD to sort by date first.

Creating Aperture Vault Backups

Before you can backup everything to external drives or something offsite, you still need to backup Aperture’s previews and metadata.  This is pretty simple in Aperture.

1. Click ‘Show Vaults’ at the bottom Left of the Aperture Screen
2. Click the ‘Gear Icon’ that appears
3. Select ‘Add Vault’
   
4. Chose a destination for the vault backup.  In our case, /Volumes/Drobo/Aperture Vaults (The picture below shows the backup of the Test Vault I did).
   
5. Let the vault run to completion and backup the entire contents.  You may have to click the circle with arrows (like the recycling symbol).
   
6. One other thing you should note, the vault backup is not automatic.  Everyone once in a while, you will need to run the backup of the vault to ensure you are getting your latest changes.  To do that, click the recycling arrow in Aperture and let it run.

Backup of Everything with CrashPlan

Now you have a backup of  your Aperture Library and your originals are safely in their own location, it is time to make sure they are all backed up.  If you haven’t read it yet, take a look at my review of CrashPlan.  My instructions, while you don’t need to use CrashPlan, are specific to CrashPlan.

1. Using a backup program like CrashPlan add both external drives (from the requirements section) as destinations and if you are using CrashPlan online, add it as a destination.
2. If you are subscribing to CrashPlan+, make two backup sets.  In our case, we have two backup sets, CrashPlan and External Drive.  Add both external drives to the External Drive backup set, and just CrashPlan to the CrashPlan set.  Make the External Drives backup set the higher priority.
3. Go to backup, and select the ‘Files’ button under each backup set.
4. Add in Aperture Originals folder you defined and the folder where you back up your Aperture Vaults.
5. Make sure you click ‘Save’ after you add in the backups.
   
6. Let the backups complete.  The External Drives backup set should complete well before the CrashPlan set.
7. Once complete, one of the two drives to an offsite location.
8. At the end of a two week period, bring the remote drive home and swap it out.  CrashPlan will see the new drive is now present and will backup everything you have missed for the last two week.

At this point your data should be continually backed up to both CrashPlan and a drive that you take offsite.  If you should wish to save money, you can just use either the external drive method or the CrashPlan cloud method.

Restore Procedure

Restoring the Aperture library is a three step process involving setting up Aperture (in the event of a system crash), restoring the originals and vault, and then restoring the vault in aperture.

1. From the Mac App Store, load Aperture.
2. If CrashPlan is not installed, install CrashPlan and log into your account.
   1. Mount your external drive if you are restoring from external.  Otherwise, you will be restoring from CrashPlan directly.
3. Go to Restore in CrashPlan and restore the Aperture Originals files and Aperture Vault directories from CrashPlan.  If you still have the Drobo in place, restore to its original location. (The picture below shows me restoring from a restore test I performed, not the actual library)
4. Start Aperture and load a new empty library
5. Click ‘Show Vaults’ in the bottom left corner.
6. Click ‘Restore Library’
7. In the pop-up chose ‘Select Source Vault’ and click ‘Restore’
8. Select the vault that you restored from CrashPlan in step 3 and click ‘Select’
   

Your pictures and videos in the Aperture library are now restored.

Conclusion

I know this was long and fairly complicated but once you get it setup, it is a fairly automated process.  Even if you don’t use the method above, maybe this will at least give you ideas on how to handle your own backups.

Backup Your Computer with CrashPlan

If your computer died today, would you be able to get everything back?  What about if (heaven forbid) the house caught on fire and your computer and the Time Machine backup on the hard drive sitting next to your computer burned up.  I know that if that happened, your data would be the least of your worries.  But after everything settled and your life was back on track, I bet there is a part of you that would be very sad that your pictures and videos from all those years are gone.  Memories can’t be replaced.

About a year ago I was looking for a good online service to backup my data.  I checked out Carbonite but I have so much data on my Drobo it didn’t seem worth it.  Carbonite charges extra to backup external drives attached to your system.  And I have about 700GB of pictures, home movies, and music sitting on a Drobo that I would like to keep.  Not to mention all the master data from the various video editing projects that I want to keep in case I want to go back and change something.

A friend was watching deals come through on DealHacker one day and told me that a service called CrashPlan was offering a year free if you switched from Carbonite.  The kicker was that it worked with any email, even if you were not an existing Carbonite customer. (Unfortunately they no longer have this deal going)  So I checked them out and was impressed with the service.  I promptly signed up for one year free.  You can see the list of comparisons below:

I used the plan as basic as you can.  I signed up, checked the boxes next to the folders I wanted to back up, and let it run.  It ran smoothly without issue and in that year time, I only had to restore one file, but it was there.  When it came time to renew, I was still very happy with the service so I signed up for another year at $55 (which I think was a special rate I got because it is not quite this cheap now).  As I said, memories can’t be replaced and I didn’t want to take any chances.  After I renewed, I took a closer look at the service.  It offers much more than online backup.  Let me explain.

The CrashPlan Client

CrashPlan really exists in two forms.  The first is the cloud service that your data is encrypted to and stored.  The second is the client that you have to run on your machine.  The CrashPlan client is what takes your data, compresses it, deduplicates it, and uploads it to the CrashPlan servers.  Because it uses compression and dedupe, it can upload much faster than trying to upload gigs of straight data.  The initial seeding of about 300GB of data took about a week.

The neat thing about the client though is that is can be used to backup to a locally attached external drive as well and you don’t have to pay for that.  If you want an offsite copy, you can place a drive at a friends house and backup to that as well for free.  So CrashPlan offers flexibility.  Here is a list of advantages as I see them:

• Unlimited backup to the CrashPlan servers of all your data on one computer, including backup of external drives (requires CrashPlan+)
• The ability to backup to an offsite computer or your friends computer, FOR FREE.  All you need is two computers running CrashPlan with free accounts
• The ability to create multiple backup sets to backup different data to different destinations (requires CrashPlan+)
• The ability to use the CrashPlan application as a traditional backup client and backup to an external drive for free
• 128bit encryption for the free version and 448bit encryption of your data for CrashPlan+
• Once daily backups for the free version and minute by minute for CrashPlan+ subscription
• Really good support

CrashPlan+ Pricing

As with all other services, when you buy CrashPlan+ you get a discount if you buy in bulk.  The prices below reflect the current pricing as of 11/19/2013.  It should be noted that to get the same features from Carbonite, you pay $99 a year for the lowest tier.

Years	Price	Price per year
1	$72	$72
2	$120	$60
3	$173	$57
4	$190	$47.50

Conclusions

The features you get for the money seem well worth it to me. For $4 to $7 a month you get piece of mind knowing that your data is protected. And if you don’t want to spend the money, you can always backup to an external drive or a friends house offsite for free. As I have 900TB right now that I am backing up, it actually seems cheaper to me to use the service and then I don’t have to worry about protecting the drive or making sure it doesn’t get stolen at a friends house. CrashPlan is a definite recommendation.  And I think next year I am going be renewing for a multiple year contract.

Sony NEX-6 Review

I want to say that I got really lucky.  My daughter had a Tae Kwon Do competition that we wanted to document with pictures and video, and we found ourselves without a really good camera.  So my wife agreed to get a new camera and trust my knowledge on electronics.  I also want to say that before this camera, I had very little photography experience.  Sure, I had taken thousands of pictures over the years with various point and shoot and camera phones, but I didn’t really “know” what photography is all about.  I had been pining for a DSLR for years, mostly for video, but after reading up on the subject, I decided to try a mirrorless compact camera with interchangeable lenses.  The Sony NEX series looked really good because they offered a bigger sensor that performed better in low light, and we bought the NEX-6.

The first picture I took with the NEX 6

Fast forward six months later and I have taken around 10,000 pictures and tried it out in every scenario from sports to landscape to portraits.  I’ve devoured everything I can about photography.  And I now have a really good understanding as to how to take a quality picture, and the technical expertise that goes behind it.  Don’t get me wrong, I am by no means an expert, but I can speak to some of the things that are important in a camera and helping you take a good picture.

So should you continue reading?  If you are curious about how compact camera systems work and my thoughts on the NEX-6. please continue.  If you are an amateur or wanna be photographer, or a person looking to buy a new camera because they need more than their point and shoot or camera phone can provide, keep reading. If you are curious about how the mirrorless camera systems work and if it’s right for you, keep reading.  If you are a professional photographer looking to slam mirrorless systems, (or amateur photographers) know I have the utmost respect for what you do, but you may not want to keep reading if the goal is to put me down.  Otherwise, if you are a professional and looking to see if you can get away with a mirrorless for your backup, then do keep reading.

Compact Camera Systems

Church in Mt. Adams

Compact camera systems got their name from the fact that they are much smaller than traditional DSLRs.  When I think of a compact camera system though, I think of a camera with interchangeable lenses, that is mirrorless.  DSLR stands for “Digital Single-Lens Reflex” and is the digital child of the traditional film based SLR.  An SLR camera has a mirror in the body.  When the photographer is composing the shot, the mirror is in a down position and the light coming through the lens is reflected up into the view finder.  This is very important because it allows the photographer to compose the exact settings he wants out of the lens before taking the shot.  When the picture is how he/she wants it, they press the shutter release at which time the mirror flips upward and exposes the picture to the sensor.  SLR/DSLR cameras are usually pretty big because they need so much room for the mirror, but this size also provides an advantage because you can put larger sensors in a camera which allows for better pictures in low light (among other things).

Mirrorless compact cameras remove the….mirror, as you may have guessed.  The shutter is open and light shining on the sensor and that information is relayed to the screen real time.  In the case of the Sony NEX-6, it gives you a tiny OLED screen in the view finder which provides live feedback as you change settings on the camera and lens.  This allows you to compose your shot in the same way you would on a DSLR on a much more compact frame.  But there are distinct advantages to this as well.  One of which is that the average mirrorless camera can usually take a lot more pictures in burst mode because there is no lens to move.  The NEX-6 can shoot 10 shots per second for about 2-3 seconds before it starts to slow down.

Sony NEX-6 Features

Every control I can think of that a traditional DSLR has, the Sony NEX-6 has.  It also has something that a lot of compact and DSLR camera’s don’t have, a built in flash.

Amateur

Fireworks at a Reds Game

For the amateur there are two automatic modes.  One like a traditional point and shoot where it tries to pick the best exposure and white balance for you.  It has another automatic mode called Intelligent Auto (iAuto) which goes a few steps further and actually tries to predict the shooting conditions.  If you are using it on iAuto, don’t be surprised if you take a picture and it snaps off 5 or 6.  This might be because you are taking a picture in low light and the camera feels if it takes 5 pictures, then puts the best parts of all of them together, it can give you a better picture.  Either one of these modes tends to work really well

In addition to Auto and iAuto, the NEX-6 also has scene selection mode.  Scene selection mode allows you to choose which type of scene you are shooting and the camera makes the setting adjustments automatically.  This is the mode my wife uses when shooting action shots of the kids playing soccer.  The camera sets itself to 1/2000 of a second shutter speed and sets the burst to 3 frames per second.  The NEX-6 has the following scene selections and in all these cases, the camera does a good job make sure an amateur gets a pretty good picture.

• Sport/Action – Sets shutter speed to 1/2000 second and 3 shot per second burst
• Sunset – Bumps up the reds so that there is a nice glow to a picture
• Night Portrait – Made to be used in combination with the flash, it fires the flash so that the person’s face is lit up, and then it leaves the shutter open a little longer so you can see what is behind the person
• Night Mode – Bumps up the ISO (sensor sensitivity to light)
• Handheld Night Mode – Takes 6 shots one right after the other, then combines them into one taking the best parts from all
• Anti-shake – Takes 6 shots like in night mode and combines them into one reducing movement
• Portrait – opens the aperture wide to give the nice bokeh (when the person in the picture is in focus, but everything behind or in front is blurry)
• Landscape – Wider aperture and longer shutter to capture a lot of light
• Macro – Quicker shutter to reduce motion on up close subject

Enthusiast/Professional

As you would expect, you can control your aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, metering, RAW/JPEG/RAW+JPEG, exposure compensation, etc.  It has all the standard features you’d expect.  But there are some really nice features you may want to explore:

• Dynamic Manual Focus (DMF) – The camera takes care of autofocus, but then after you press the shutter halfway down it allows you to change focus by rotating the focus ring.
  

  Lightning

• Focus Peaking – The parts of the picture that the camera is using to focus on light up in either red or yellow letting you know just what is in focus.  This is handy when working in DMF or with a lens that doesn’t support auto focus.
• Manual Focus Assist – When this is turned on and you move the focus ring, the view finder automatically zooms in to give you a better look at what you are trying to focus on.
• Customizable Softbuttons – This one I love.  Sony gives you a button that you can program and select from your six most common used functions. I use it for AF/MF, Metering, RAW/JPEG, Dynamic Range/HDR, Focus Type.  There is also another button for a single purpose.  I use this for White Balance.
• WiFi – This is a killer feature and I use it when out taking pictures.  You’re camera becomes a WiFi hotspot and you can download pictures directly to your phone or tablet without taking out the memory card.  Or you can use your phone as a remote trigger.
• PlayMemories Apps – This is a pretty neat feature.  You can install external apps on the camera to give you the ability to do things like TimeLapse videos and in camera effects like action shots that show an objects movement over time.  I purchased the TimeLapse app for $10 which saved me $20-$50 on an intervalometer.
• Built In Flash – This doesn’t compare to a remote flash, but offers a nice bonus when in a pinch and you need more light.  If you need a remote flash….
• Hot Shoe – This is the differentiator of the NEX-6 and NEX-7 from the rest of the NEX line.  They have a hot shoe that you can put devices like microphones and external/remote flashes making the camera much more expandable.
• OLED Viewfinder – I have grown to really like the view finder.  It gives you an accurate representation of the shot and is nice and bright.  Plus you can see real time effects as you plug them in, like black and white or white balance changes.
• Video Quality – The camera can record several different video qualities in MP4 up to 1440×1080 (rectangular 1080p) at 16Mbps or in AVCHD 1920×1080 (1080p) 60frames/28Mbps.
• A Growing Lens Selection – The lens selection is growing.  You can get a variety of good glass from 10mm to 210mm.
• Panorama Mode – Really, I would say don’t use this.  Just take a wide picture and crop it down.  But if you don’t have a wide lens with you, it may serve in a pinch.
• Autobracketing – Allows you to shoot 3 automatic shots at – Xev, 0 ev, and +Xev so that you can combine later into an HDR photo.
• HDR – Built in HDR if you choose not to do it yourself.
• IR – IR sensor for remote shutter.  I actually bought the Opteka $7 remote to trigger the shutter which works fine.
• BULB Mode – I’m not sure if all camera’s have this but it allows you to leave the shutter open for as long or little you want, manually controlling it.  I used it to snap the pictures of the fireworks and lightning you see above.
• APS-C Sensor – While it’s not a full frame sensor, the NEX-6 has an APS-C sensor that is much larger than traditional point-and-shoot cameras and larger than Micro 4/3 cameras.  This means better pictures in low light.
• Size – The NEX-6 is small (about 5″ x 2″ x 1″) and weighs about 12 oz.  Trust me, I have been to a couple of photography classes and that is small compared to the DSLRs that most people bring.

Camera Settings

Selection Wheel

Quick Nav Display Screen

NEX-6 with flash up

Big APS-C Sensor

Hot Shoe

OLED View Finder

PlayMemories Apps

Things to Improve

There is definitely room for improvement with this camera:

• One of the reasons I got this camera was because I wanted to use it for video.  In my rush to get a good camera, I missed the fact that there is no external mic input.
• I  really don’t like the menu system.  Once you go the 7 functions you can program in the the soft keys, it is really hard to find anything in the mess of settings that is the menu.
• Auto focus speed is good, but not great.  We take a lot of pictures of sports and you often find that you start to shoot a burst of  pictures but the first one was out of focus, and it is shooting so fast that it can’t get the focus right.

$30 f1.8 35mm CCTV Lens

For the professional, lenses may be a good or bad thing.  What I mean by this is there is not a wide selection of lenses out for the NEX yet.  But the MF assist and focus peaking features mentioned above mean that you can use your high end glass from Nikon or Canon with an adapter, and still get good quality pictures.  As an example, I recently bought a $30 lens off Amazon to test (yes, a $30 lens).  The lens was an f1.8 35mm fixed lens actually actually made for CCTV cameras and it came with an adapter for the NEX cameras.  It takes some of the pictures you’d expect from a $30 lens but you can get good pictures.  Look at the picture on the right taken with this lens and check out the crazy bokeh and deep tones.  So imagine what a $1000 Nikkor lens could do on this camera.

Conclusion

It’s hard to say whether mirrorless cameras are the future of high end photography.  Sony is betting on it with their new A7r which is a full frame (full size sensor) mirrorless camera.  And Canon reported that it’s DSLR business took a large hit last year.  But I will go out on a limb and say I am totally enamored with this camera and think that mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras are the future of photography.

Over the past 6 months. I have had a ball with this camera and it is small enough to fit in my jacket pocket and take anywhere.  Because it has all the standard features of a “professional” camera, I have been able to just about whatever I want, and had a great time learning about photography. If you are looking to upgrade your camera, or just go beyond the basics, I highly recommend a mirrorless camera, and specifically the NEX-6. As for my pictures, I am very happy.

Sony NEX-6 via Amazon

Check out MY PORTFOLIO HERE.  Below are a few of my favorites.

Lifeproof Nuud Waterproof iPhone Case Review

I have ruined two iPhones in the last 3 years.  The first decided to go for a swim with me in my swim trunk pocket and lasted

about 5 minutes before I got out of the water and realized what happened.  The other was my 4S which I had in my pocket during a soccer practice that ended with a surprise and absolute downpour.  When I got my replacement phone, an iPhone 5, I decided I should do something about this.

That’s where the Lifeproof Nuud comes in.  At $75, it’s certainly not cheap (It lists for $90

Amazon currently has it for $72) . But if you like your phone and don’t want to have to pay $100-200 for a replacement, it may be worth the investment.  Lifeproof has a couple of different models, but I found I liked the Nuud best because it leaves the screen open so that you get the natural feel of your fingers on the glass.  The case has a rubber gasket that goes around the screen that allows access to the screen, yet seals the rest of the phone from water leaking in through holes in the phone.  That said, if you have a screen that is cracked, this probably isn’t the case for you.

Lifeproof touts that the case is waterproof for up to an hour in 6.6 feet of water for up to an hour.  They offer a 5 year warranty on the case but do not make any promises to replace your phone if the case leaks.  One thing I should say is make sure follow the instructions and  test your case before you put your phone in it.  Once I was confident, I have taken my phone in the pool several times and feel comfortable taking the risk.  Check out some of the pictures that I captured below.

The case does add a little bit of bulk to the phone.  So if you are used to the small iPhone form factor, it will feel quite different in your hand.   There is a little bit of rubber on front of the case that keeps it from sliding around if you put it face down, but on the back side it is just hard plastic which can kind of make it hard to hold on to.  There are accessories you can buy for the case like the bike mount or car mount that make the case more useful, but only fit the Lifeproof cases.

All in all though, I think the case is a good investment if you are concerned about your phone getting damaged by drops or water/dirt.  The case is waterproof and shockproof and works as promised.  But if water is not a concern, buy a less expensive case if you need to protect your phone.

Pros:

• Waterproof
• Shockproof
• Access to the glass touchscreen

Cons:

• Somewhat bulky
• Your voice can sometimes be muffled
• Can be hard to hold on
• Pricey

IOS7 Clock Icon

I notice something about the IOS 7 clock icon the other day and thought it worth mentioning. The clock icon actually moves with the time like a real clock. (click the picture to see it in action)