Many users of Canon's xxD series cameras (20D, 30D, 40D, etc.) have reported problems with shutter buttons being unresponsive over time and I have been one of them in recent months. My shutter needs to be worked a bit before it becomes responsive or other times has a delayed-reaction before triggering.

Some have taken the drastic step of sending their camera to Canon for a cleaning or taking apart their camera themselves. Having sent back my camera at great expense a couple times already I was all ready to shelve mine. However, a recent simple fix has come up that, at least in my case, has proven to improve the shutter button responsiveness.

Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer has hit another one out of the park with his latest satirical post in which he outlines the 25 Steps a novice photographer will take in buying camera equipment only to arrive -- less rich -- at a basic kit. I read it laughing not only at the phantom novice Johnston is writing to but also realizing how many of those same steps I've taken myself in the past few years.

Read: Letter to George.

Then send it to as many camera hobbyists you know. The truth hurts.

Something I read about and now have confirmed for myself: FP 100-C is self-terminating.

Translation

And now to translate for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about: Fuji instant 100 ISO color peel-apart film you can leave until much later before you peel it apart to end the developing process. No counting seconds.

How peel-apart film works

Peel apart film begins developing when you pull the tab out of the holder, and then pull the frame you just shot out of the holder, thereby squeezing the two layers of the emulsion together through the rollers that the frame comes out of.

Here's the lighting diagram for the baby shoot I did last week. There's no side view of it so just imagine that the 'cloud' and large softbox held up by the boom is a foot above head height.

Unless you have a very good boom I would not recommend it being held like that. In the previous VPW class that inspired me to try a smaller budget version of the lighting their softbox was instead held up by the cross beam of a background stand (of course sandbagged for greater security). I don't have an extra background stand so I had to use my boom.

Occasionally, Flickr Uploadr might get stuck on a process for example trying to upload a file that is too large, one that no longer exists or a corrupt file. If so it might also not intelligently skip that file and might just keep on going and crash before you can cancel the process. If you can't stop it and it crashes over and over there is still a solution (I had to look it up and so am passing this along).

In Windows, the solution is to delete a file called photos.json.

This file is located in the Documents and Settings/[your user name]/Application Data/Flickr/Uploadr/Profile/ directory. (or do a search).

I've written this post a couple times already on Flickr and other groups and I don't know why I haven't put it in the blog yet. Also note: I did not invent this method. I read about it and now I am passing it on.

Problem: got no remote but have plenty of vanity

Let's say you are in the middle of the desert and you desperately need to take a self-portrait. You have a tripod but you forgot to pack any one of dozens of inexpensive (or expensive) remote shutter releases with your kit. And there is no one around to take your picture. And, you don't have a stick, tripod or blow up doll that can stand in your place. How do you get yourself in proper focus?