More Snow Leopard photography are on display and for sale in my wildlife photography portfolio…HERE.

Hopefully these will inspire you to join me next year!

[View with PicLens]

You can see all of my Snow Leopard images and order prints…HERE.

I’ll be announcing next years dates soon, sign up for my mailing list and you’ll get all of my updates in plenty of time to make plans to join me on one of my wildlife photography workshops.

Nikon Capture NX 2 Upgrade from Capture NX 1.xNikon Capture NX 2 Full VersionThe big news for Mac fans is that only 5 months after the launch of Snow Leopard, Nikon managed to get their software updated and compatible. Despite the tone of that sentence it is really good news, because I am seeing a huge increase in performance with this update.

From Nikon USA and a link to the download page.

If you were waiting to buy now would be a good time. Here are the links to purchase NX2.

Nikon Capture NX 2 Full Version

Nikon Capture NX 2 Upgrade from Capture NX 1.x

Macintosh:

* Compatibility with Mac OS X version 10.6.2 has been added.

* Specifications have been modified so that when 25 Photos on Page, or a higher number of photos per page, is selected for Select Layout in the Print layout dialog, the Use Thumbnail Data (Draft Use Only) box is automatically checked.

This resolves an issue that prevented printing when 25 Photos on Page, or a higher number of photos per page, was selected for Select Layout.

* Capture NX 2 would quit unexpectedly when certain settings files were applied with the Apply Settings box checked in the Watched Folder panel of the Batch Process dialog. This issue has been resolved.

* An issue that caused Capture NX 2 to freeze when switching images after the Color Picker had been opened has been resolved.

Windows:

* Compatibility with 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 Home Basic/ Home Premium/ Professional/ Enterprise/ Ultimate has been added. When run under 64-bit versions, the software operates as a 32-bit application.

* Compatibility with 64-bit versions of Windows Vista Home Basic/ Home Premium/ Business/ Enterprise/ Ultimate (Service Pack 2) editions has been added. When run under 64-bit versions, the software operates as a 32-bit application.

* Specifications have been modified so that when 25 Photos on Page, or a higher number of photos per page, is selected for Select Layout in the Print layout dialog, the Use Thumbnail Data (Draft Use Only) box is automatically checked.

This resolves an issue that prevented printing when 25 Photos on Page, or a higher number of photos per page, was selected for Select Layout.

* An issue that caused an error message to be displayed and prevented printing when borderless settings were applied with some printers has been resolved.

* An issue that prevented accurate application of borderless print settings has been resolved.

* An issue that prevented specification of the same margin for left, right, top, and bottom margins in the Margins section of the Page Setup dialog has been resolved.

* An issue that caused a delay between clicking of the Print button and actual initiation of printing has been resolved.

* When an image was opened on some computers with AMD CPUs, Capture NX 2 quit unexpectedly. This issue has been resolved.

* An issue that caused an error message to be displayed during batch processing of a large number of files has been resolved.

* When a batch process was run with the Notify when completed box in the Processing Queue – Process Running dialog checked, a blank window was displayed. This issue has been resolved.

* When a batch process was run for multiple images with the same shooting date and time, the processed images were not saved with the correct file names. This issue has been resolved.

* An issue that caused batch processing to fail before completion when a batch process was run with certain settings has been resolved.

* An issue that caused an error message to be displayed when multiple enhancements were applied to images has been resolved.

* An issue that caused an error message to be displayed when attempting to open several images previously saved with Capture NX 2 has been resolved.

* When the Camera & Lens Corrections checkbox was checked (Develop section of Edit List), enhancements were not applied to an image opened in the image window and displayed at 100%, and the enhanced image could not be saved. This issue has been resolved.

* When image window display was maximized with Desktop selected for Window menu>Workspaces>Additional Screen for the primary monitor on a dual monitor system, the image window disappeared. This issue has been resolved.

* When the zoom tool was used to enlarge an image displayed with Full Screen or Presentation selected from the View menu, the portion of the image clicked with the zoom tool was not displayed at the center of the window. This issue has been resolved.

* An issue that prevented switching between “+” and “-“ operations when the ALT key was pressed while using the selection brush has been resolved.

* An issue that caused folders in the Capture NX 2 Folders palette to be displayed in a different order than with Windows Explorer display has been resolved.

* When the crop tool was used to select a crop and the ENTER key pressed to apply the crop, the cursor did not switch to a selection tool. This issue has been resolved.

* When a number was entered after a decimal point for some enhancement items with text boxes for entering numerical values in the Edit List, the values could not be changed. This issue has been resolved.

* When “-” (minus) was entered in the Exposure Compensation text box under Quick Fix in the Develop section of the Edit List, it was displayed in red and then “0” was displayed after a few seconds. This issue has been resolved.

I finally switched to a MAC when the new MAC Pro towers came out in March. I had used PCs for years and had pretty good computer skills. I’m the guy that friends and family called when they could not figure out what was up with their computer… My experience with the switch was awesome! Literally it was like I had always had a MAC, no issues, just joyous ease and blazing speed. To be fair my move up the performance ladder was rather substantial. My PC was a core2 1.86GHz machine with 2GB of ram running Vista. My MAC is a dual quad core 2.26GHz machine with 10GB of RAM!

The Upgrade

Of course there was some drama sot get started. I went to my local Apple store promptly at 10 to get the shiny new disc, only to discover that they were closed for remodeling until September 18^th! That was a tad longer than I wanted to wait and so I went to the nearest Best Buy, no Snow Leopard at that store, but the one across town had discs. Note to self: CALL FIRST!

The Preparation

I read some stuff online and I had my hard drive all backed up via Time Machine (How cool is that app?)  I chose to do an on top install rather than wipe the disc. My machine was new and I didn’t think that I had done anything to it that needed a start over. Bottom line the only preparation was to back up the drive that my OS was on.

The Install

1)   The Unwrapping. You have to love Apple’s typical over the top and somehow endearing packaging. Inner cartons on an install disc!

2)   Started at 12:07 and a very cool flash movie setup assistant plays. It predicts about 45 minutes for the install.

3)   I think it did 2 re-boots during the process neither of which required my intervention. My only action was to re-boot when it was over.

4)   Finished the final re-boot and 12:40. A quick 33 minutes to install a new OS.

My expectations were pretty high based on my experience with the MAC so far. I was also excited about the upgrade because most of it was really designed to make my turbo charged computer perform at its most awesome level.

The Big Reveal

1)   Opening applications is noticeable faster, especially Apple apps like Safari. Safari is blink and you’ll miss it fast. I did a speed test on Firefox and on Safari. Safari’s download test was 7 MBPS faster. Obviously subjective, but my feeling of speed shows that Safari is far faster as well.

2)   I have 2 monitors and one of them is swiveled portraits style. The new OS new this. In fact I didn’t find any old preferences that had been forgotten. Nice! On my last windows upgrade I even had to locate USB and Ethernet drivers! Try that without getting online…

3)   Entourage is the only software isn’t working right. I get my mail, but the views filters are not working

4)   My Adobe Lightroom and CS4 products all work as do all of the filters from NIK, Auto/FX and Lucis Arts.

5)   It does see my Epson NX515 printer, but cannot get the drivers. I thought that was odd since the printer is brand new on the market. I delete and re-install the printer and it works just fine.

6)   I still have a PC and am using a venerable Linksys WR54GT router. No problem going MAC to PC or vice versa. I didn’t touch anything here. The printer is also wireless…

7)   My Logitech mouse works in basic mode. I use the back button extensively on the web and it doesn’t work now. The Logitech software does not install with Snow Leopard.

8)   I booted in both 64bit (hold the 6 and 4 key while booting) and in 32 bit. I didn’t find any gotchas in one that was not there in the other.

9)   Apps open and close immediatel

10) I have not played very much with the new features. I use Finder a lot and I was looking forward to the increased thumbnail size. This is great, but only works in the grid view. I kind of like the column view myself.

Conclusions

For my system it was absolutely worth the enormous $29 to upgrade! In the first couple of hours I can easily notice speed improvements and have no complaints about the process or the issues that I have found so far. I feel like all the little buggy things will get sorted out quickly.

It really was a no brainer and easy process. Oh and by the way windows users, you don’t have to re-install any of your software, WOW!

I’ve been blessed to photograph a Snow Leopard!

You can see more of them in my gallery here. I also teach photography and you can join me and get a chance to photograph a Snow Leopard too. Here is a link to the workshop.

In the mean time enjoy the upgrade to Snow Leopard it’s been great for me.