Lightroom 4 has .gpx import built-in. For Lightroom 3 or earlier, you can use the donationware plug-in from Jeffrey Friedl called GPS Support. If you don’t have Lightroom, Mac users can use MyTracks (works with JPGs, not sure about RAW files).

In early 2011, while preparing for a trip to London, I knew I would want to geoencode my images. I don’t own an iPhone; for many users, that would be the easiest choice. So I knew I had to purchase some kind of GPS unit.

The main problem I had was getting the logger to sync with my Mac. If you are a PC user, you’ll have no problem; the units generally come with a small-size CD with PC software on it. On the Mac, you have to download third-party software that will sync with your unit. Most (all?) Garmins will sync with Google Earth directly. For other units you can use the free HoudahGPS or the inexpensive and very elegant MyTracks. Most GPS loggers sync over a bluetooth connection; so you have to configure your bluetooth settings properly, and get the software to download the file. This requires some amount of fiddling with settings to work, even in the best of circumstances.

I began with a handheld Garmin 60C, which I use for hiking and geocaching. It syncs easily with my computer over a USB cable connection, and the unit is accurate. But the battery only lasts a few hours, not long enough for a whole day. Plus the size of the thing is relatively large; carrying this big thing around London was not something I wanted to do.

So, I ordered the iGotU (US$60). The plastic on the logger broke pretty much immediately. I sent it back without further testing.

Then I spent a little more and got the $100 QStarz BT1300ST, which is a beautiful little unit. The battery lasts all day, and it’s small and has a nice keychain attachment. I was able to get it to occasionally sync with my desktop iMac, but it never sync’d with my MacBook. It appears to be highly accurate, but since I couldn’t reliably sync it with the MacBook I would have with me in London, I decided to try another unit.

I then got a Wintec WBT-201, it is almost as small as the QStarz, though noticeably fatter. Luckily,  I can reliably get it to connect to all my macs. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be terribly accurate. During a walk along the south side of the Thames River, the unit had me crossing the river zigzagging from the north side to the south side several times, as if I were swimming across the river again and again.

Disclaimer: Since then, there are new versions of HoudahGPS, and I even have a new MacBook Air with a new operating system. I really ought to try syncing the QStarz again, it’s a great little unit with a small size and long battery life. It’s entirely possible that it sycs fine with the MBA, I just haven’t been traveling in quite a while.

The wining answer was 1050. My guess was 1070, based on this post, and I was close enough to win.

Google search beats mathematics.

Video 2

You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Slideshow

Q: How is Lightroom different from Photoshop? Photoshop is for doing intensive manipulation of individual photos.

Lightroom is for managing your whole photo workflow, including:

Organize your photos

• Manage metadata
• Find, sort, and rank photos
• Create collections
• Compare similars
• Export

Develop your photos

• Color correction
• Dust & redeye removal
• Tonal adjustments
• Sharpening
• Noise Reduction
• Lens corrections
• Virtual copies
• Cropping
• Compare before/after
• Presets

Slideshows

Easy Printing

Web Galleries

Q: How is that different from Bridge?

The corrections are all the same that you can do with Adobe Camera RAW; I believe Bridge, Photoshop, and Lightroom all use the same Camera Raw. So those are more or less the same.

However, Lightroom is based on a database. Any changes you make to the photos are stored in the database, not the original image. Similar to the XMP files that Bridge uses, but more robust.

You can save develop settings as presets. And you can share presets with other users. I have a library of dozens of presets I have collected, and I can go from one to the next with just a click.

Like in iTunes playlist, you can make collections. An image can be in multiple collections. So you can organize your photos for projects. You can also make smart collections; so you can instantly collect in one place all your photos with a particular keyword, or multiple keywords: all your “four star” images taken in “london” with “Susan” in them. Or see what lenses you used the most in 2011.

But probably the biggest difference from Bridge is virtual copies. You can replicate an image over and over without actually replicating the file. That way, you can try different processing variations and compare them side by side.

There’s also a printing module which is useful if you print your own photos. I used to save off .psd’s at different aspect ratios, creating multiple files of my favorite images at 8×10, 5×7, etc. With Lightroom, it’s just a preset for each image size.

It does seem to me that low humidity can correlate with the blue skies and white cumulus clouds that I like for photography. This time of year in particular — late August through October, generally — brings us lower humidity, clear air, and a lot of pretty sky. That, plus the foliage of autumn, is why autumn is my favorite time of year to plan a photo trip.

Of course, even in autumn the weather can be variable. It’s important to note that a change of weather can be the best time to shoot; when the forecast says “rain this afternoon, ending toward evening” can be a really good time to plan a sunset shoot.

But it’s always a crapshoot. I’ve had gloomy overcast days suddenly open up for a gorgeous shot of the sun peeking through the clouds, after I had decided to stay home. I’ve had beautiful clear days suddenly block up in the west more times than I can count.

If there’s a real science about it, I still have not figured it out.

I bought the lens for the Jon Stewart “Rally to Restore Sanity” rally in 2010. I also brought it on a family trip to Florida, and I shot a Brown commencement with it. All of these were outdoor, casual uses. From my point of view, if I’m shooting serious stock, I’m going to use my big gear: the 5DMII and Canon L glass. I got the Sigma because I wanted a low-price lens for casual travel snapshots. I also thought it would be good for family hikes. At $160, it was not a big investment, so it seemed worth a shot.

This lens creates a nice compact, light combination when paired with my Canon 20D. The 50-200 range is very, very useful on a 1.6x crop sensor body; you can get from moderate telephoto/portrait at the 50mm range to significant telephoto at the 200mm lens.

Is the lens sharp in the 100-200 range? Well, looking at some examples a medium apertures, I would say it was sharp enough for my purposes. Would it be sharp wide open indoors? Maybe sharp enough. Would I use it for indoor sports? I would not, as I have a 70-200 f/2.8, so I guess I can’t answer that question. Unfortunately, I’m just not the kind of guy who’s going to do all kinds of objective tests to find out exactly how a lens performs, so this is not that kind of review.

Overall, I think it’s a great lens for the money. I mean, as far as telephoto lenses go, it’s about as cheap as you will find. It’s small and compact and light, which are really important to me in some situations. It’s not very fast, though, either in aperture and focus speed. And the bokeh looks a little funny to me.

Anyway, seeing is believing. I posted some samples at 100% size; please use them for reference only, do not use them for publication of any kind. Also, here are my Flickr photos using this lens.