First of all check to see if you have the latest version of firmware installed, to do this just turn on your flash unit.

Then head on over to  the Metz firmware download page and then download the latest firmware.

Click on your appropriate platform. For this example I will be updating via Windows.

Once downloaded to a location like your desktop open the file.

You will get a Windows Security warning so go ahead and click on Run.

The program will automatically extract the files into the current folder.

There will be 2 files and 1 folder where all the files are needed to update your flash unit.

Run the FirmwareUpdate_MB58_GB.exe.

Of course you’ll have to accept the Terms of Use first.

Go ahead and hit the Start button. If you do not have the flash unit plugged in now you will get the following message:

So please have the flash unit plugged in before you start the firmware upgrade. You will need a USB cable with a Mini-B connection to hook up the flash unit. Also you do not need batteries in the unit when performing the upgrade.

Once you hit Start, you will see a blue progress bar at the bottom right hand corner. The entire process takes about 15 seconds.

Once the firmware has been downloaded to the flash unit the program will automatically verify the files.

After another 15 seconds or so the verifying will be done and your flash unit will have the latest firmware.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. If you are interested in any other type of guides please feel free to comment below and if I have the capability I will try to do the write up!

Lightroom 3.6 (Mac|Win) & Camera Raw 6.6 (Mac|Win) are now available for download, adding support for the following cameras:

• Canon PowerShot S100
• Fuji FinePix X10
• Leica V-LUX 3
• Nikon 1 V1
• Nikon 1 J1
• Panasonic DMC-GX1
• Ricoh GR Digital IV
• Samsung NX5
• Samsung NX200
• Sony NEX-7

The releases also added support for dozens of new camera profiles & fixes a number of bugs. For a complete list, see Tom Hogarty’s post on the Lightroom Journal.

Lightroom 3.4 (Mac|Win) & Camera Raw 6.4 (Mac|Win) are now available for download, adding support for the following cameras:

• Canon EOS 600D (Rebel T3i / Kiss X5 Digital)
• Canon EOS 1100D (Rebel T3 / Kiss X50 Digital)
• Fuji FinePix S200 EXR
• Fuji FinePix F550 EXR
• Fuji FinePix HS20 EXR
• Fuji FinePix X100
• Hasselblad H4D-40
• Kodak EasyShare Z990
• Nikon D5100
• Olympus E-PL1s
• Olympus E-PL2
• Olympus XZ-1
• Samsung NX11

The releases also added support for dozens of new camera profiles, added new tethered camera support, & fixed a number of bugs. For a complete list, see Tom Hogarty’s post on the Lightroom Journal.

How can anybody not just drool after watching that?

The weather was beautiful and the wine was flowing.

As you walked up to the First Annual Palisades Wine Fest, you were greeted by the friendly staff directing you to the private Sunset Room and deck inside Gladstone’s.

All the proceeds from the silent auction items were to benefit the Friends of Temescal Pool.

There were some  award winning wines being poured amongst all the wines.

All the attendees had a great time.

The wineries were all helpful and gave great information about the wines that they carried.

At the end of the event, the setting couldn’t be better for a beautiful sunset in Pacific Palisades.

Photographer’s Notes:

Camera Used:

• Nikon D700

Lenses Used:

• Nikon 50mm f/1.4
• Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8

Normally for event photography you should bring two bodies with different lens setups but you also need to know your environment where you will be shooting in. Since this event was in the Sunset Room space was going to be tight. So hanging two bodies on my BlackRapid RS DR-1 Double Strap was not going to be an option. Though I did at least bring the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 (Nifty fifty) and the standard zoom 24-70mm f/2.8 which in tight spots should be enough to cover all the types of shots needed. Also attached to the Nikon D700 was the SB-900 with a Gary Fong Lightsphere. For the sunset shot, that was a HDR image composed of 5 bracketed shots.

Fine wines from Charles Krug, Gallo & Barefoot Bubbly, Pacific Coast Vineyards, Cielo Malibu Estate, Herzog, Pizzulli Family Vineyards(by Cosimo Pizulli, a Palisadian), Serenity Lane, Dr Ruths Vineyard, Coquelicot Estate Vineyards, Arbios and Praxis Cellars, Findleton Estate Winery, Bodegas Paso Robles, Treatch Cellars, B & E Vineyard, WCP Cellars, Hearthstone Vineyard and Winery, Illuminare Winery, and Wades Wines were all poured.

For more pics check out my main site.

Location Details:

Gladstone’s

(310) 454-3474

17300 Pacific Coast Highway

Pacific Palisades, Ca 90272

www.gladstones.com

Do you love avocados? If so read on.

Avocado ice cream with Pomegranate Whipped Cream.

Avocado Ricotta Gnocchi with spicy carrot curry sauce.

Avo Tacos after running out of the lettuce use to make them.

Avocado Filled Hangar Steak.

Avocado Bacon Muffin.

Chocolate Avocado Mufins with Avocado Frosting.

It’s like Mr. Avocado Head.

The Guerilla Chef had his own special dish as a gift to everyone, Avocados on the half shell.

Some friendly competition.

After all the eating it was time to vote.

The crowd eagerly awaited the results.

Avocados from Mexico did a great job for sponsoring this event.

Matt Timms got everyone rounded up ready for the results.

The judges – Eric Boardman and The Guerilla Gourmet.

Here are the following picks by the judges:

3rd place – Teresa Wu (Avocado Creamcheeze Cake w/ Minty Avocado Whipped Cream).

2nd place - Clara Polito (Avocado Caliente cupcake).

1st place – Adam Angeles (Deep Fried Avocados).

Now for the peoples choice winners:

3rd place – Brandon Ficara and Casey Suchan (Avolcano – habanero/jalapeno/serano vegan cheeze and avocado pastries).

2nd place - Mike Cohen (Avocado Ice Cream with Pomegranate Whipped Cream).

1st place - Scott Gregory (Cowboy Bruschetta).

Ok seriously, the Cowboy Bruschetta was REALLY REALLY good!

Photographer’s Notes:

Camera Used:

• Nikon D700

Lenses Used:

• Nikon 50mm f/1.4
• Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8

When I first heard that there was going to be an avocado recipe cook off by The Takedown being held locally here in Los Angeles I had to be there! For this event I decided to use the 50mm f/1.4 aka nifty fifty which would allow for great bokeh, isolation, and amazingly tack sharp pictures. I also brought along the 24-70mm f/2.8 and the Nikon SB-900 to fill in any necessary types of shots that I would need. For the pictures with flash, I also attached a Gary Fong Lightsphere which added a nice fill and catch light for when I used the flash.

Over all the Avocado Takedown was a great success. There were vegan dishes, meat dishes, and even desert dishes ALL made with avocados. Thanks again to Matt Timms from The Takedown, Avocados from Mexico, and all the other great sponsors from this event.

For more pics check out my main site.

Location Details:

The Bootleg Theater

(213) 389-3856

2220 Beverly Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90057

www.bootlegtheater.org

To the left, we have the Metz mecablitz 58 AF-1 digital (N for Nikon). To the right we have the Nikon SB-900 AF Speedlight.

Clearly the SB-900 is larger then the 58 AF-1. Though I do like the fact that the Metz has a secondary reflector with 3 light output ratios. Sometimes it does make a good fill light.

Though the SB-900 looks like it has more buttons then the 58 AF-1 it is actually more intuitive to navigate the menu’s then the 58 AF-1. You can also see that the SB-900 has a better locking mechanism than the 58 AF-1. I found it MUCH easier to remove the flash from the camera or the FlexTT5 with the lock then the round wing.

One downfall of the 58 AF-1 is that it can not turn a full 360 degrees. It can turn full backwards in one direction, but not in the other direction whereas the SB-900 can do it in both directions.

The SB-900 is made in Japan and the 58 AF-1 is made in Germany.

The CLS sensor on the SB-900.

The CLS sensor on the 58 AF-1, but we are not testing CLS today, we are testing the PocketWizard’s FlexTT5 ability to do HSS on both these flashes.

So with both the flashes mounted and ready to go in TTL mode I got started.

These were the batteries that I used to take all the shots with the flashes. They are Duracell AA Pre-Charged Rechargeable NiMH Batteries. I do have Sanyo eneloop batteries but I wanted to try these out. So if you go out and buy these, make sure you get the white top version which is made in Japan. The blacktop versions are made in China.

So without further ado, here are the actual test pics. All pics are at ISO 200 and f/4 with only the shutter speed changing. One the left was the SB-900 and on the right was the 58-AF 1. The camera was set stationary and the flash was fired from the right with a Lite Genius Lite-Scoop attached just to soften the light.

* As a note, “14-Bit RAW recording not compatible with High Speed Sync (HSS)” is what PocketWizard says so these pictures were all taken as JPG’s. So please forgive the white balance even though I manually set the K setting at 5560.

1/125 sec

1/250 sec

1/500 sec

1/1000 sec

1/2000 sec

1/4000 sec

1/8000 sec – The maximum shutter speed for the Nikon D700.

Yes your eyes do not deceive you, that is a red dot which means that is a Leica Summicron-R 50mm (E55) f/2 lens. I’ve actually converted that to use on a Nikon system with a Leica for Nikon-F bayonet. I will do that review later.

Photographer’s Notes:

Camera Used:

• Nikon D700

Lens Used:

• Nikon 50mm f/1.4

A reader asked if I liked using the Metz flash with the pocketwizards. Now that the 58 AF-2 digital is out, I haven’t been able to try that model. While both models performed almost equally at the hight shutter speeds, the lower shutter speeds seemed inconsistent using the 58 AF-1. I have both speedlights and I am happy that I have both and am able to use both. I have yet been able to use this in a portrait setting but I hopefully will soon.

As a side note – when I first meet Joe “Numnuts” McNally and David “Strobist” Hobby at the Flash Bus Tour I truly saw what TTL vs. full manual was all about. The ability to control flashes manually was nice, but imagine being able to fire off ~50 speedlights all at the same time. That’s exactly what Joe McNally was able to do with Nikon CLS. If you had to do that with PocketWizard’s or any type of triggering system, you would have needed a transmitter and 50 receivers! It was pretty amazing!

I hope you enjoyed reading this. If you are interested in any other type of reviews please feel free to comment below and if I have the capability I will try to do the review!

The view from right outside the balcony at Juniper Springs Resort.

There’s a Hyde Lounge in The Village.

Photographer’s Notes:

Camera Used:

• Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

Lens Used:

• Leica DC Vario-Summicron 5.1-19.2mm f/2-3.3

Seeing how this was my first visit to Mammoth Mountain, I didn’t want to bring all my gear so I just brought along my trusty point and shoot. I also brought both my SD and HD GoPro Hero’s but didn’t actually use it very much. So that just means that I need to make another trip back there!

Photographer’s Notes:

Camera Used:

• Nikon D700

Lens Used:

• Nikon 50mm f/1.4

So what do you buy, the Nikon SB-900 or the Metz 58 AF-1? More to come.

The night started with an AMP Radio pre-party at the Conga Room at L.A. Live.

Besides all the people dressed up to celebrate Mother Monster’s birthday, Rhea Litre performed two of Lady Gaga’s hits including “Alejandro” and “Born This Way.” The 24mm lens gave me plenty of room to capture the crowd enjoying the performance.

Scissor Sisters was the opening act before Lady Gaga.

All the little monsters came out in full force to celebrate Mother Monster’s birthday. One nice fan let me snap this pic. Shooting available light on the floor in the crowd was not easy.

So this picture is similar to the Getty Images being used, I just happen to take it from a different angle.

Some little monsters even brought gifts to give Lady Gaga.

She then called a fan from the audience, and because he picked up Virgin Mobile gives $25,000 to charity and he also gets to meet Lady Gaga after the show!

Then all of a sudden Beyoncé called to interrupt which meant Telephone was the next song.

Before she started to sing Born this Way acoustically Lady Gaga brought out  a pair of ruby slippers, but not just any ruby slippers. The slippers, believed to have been made at the time of the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie, were given to her by her management before she went on stage.

She then described how she once lost out on the role of Dorothy to the school bully.
She said: “I wanted to be Dorothy so bad. I was in 8th grade and she was a senior. I definitely deserved to get it, but I didn’t get it. I was one of the people in the chorus, the worst role.
“On behalf of myself and all of those bullied around the world, now these *bleeping* ruby slippers are mine.”

Everyone in the stadium cheered for Mother Monster.

I got lucky with the lights on this one.

It was the “Fame Monster”.

I can’t help myself when I get a chance to take a picture of a picture.

After the encore performance of Born This Way there was cake and everybody sang Happy Birthday to Mother Monster.

Photographer’s Notes:

Camera Used:

• Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

Lens Used:

• Leica DC Vario-Summicron 5.1-19.2mm f/2-3.3

Did I wish that I could have been a member of the media with the ability to have brought my DSLR and super telephoto lens? Yes!

That also would have meant that I would only have the same 3 song shoot time as all the other photographers. Buying an actual ticket and waiting in line allowed me to stay until the end and enjoy the total experience.

So while I could not bring my DSLR, I was able to bring my trusty Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 point and shoot with a Leica lens. Shooting in manual mode is my preferred method for this type of environment. Luckily the lights were bright enough to let me shoot with an ISO of 800 and a shutter speed of either 1/160 or 1/200 and anywhere from an aperture of f/2.8 – f/3.3.

One thing I did learn was that the digital zoom will not work in RAW shooting mode. It only works when you shoot in JPG mode. If you’re only shooting for web content, realistically though with a 10 megapixel camera it might be better to not use the digital zoom and just crop the optically zoomed image because the quality gets pretty degraded with the digital zoom.

If you’d like to see more high res pics, head on over to my main site to see my pics of Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga’s Setlist for The Monster Ball Tour at the Staples Center on March 28, 2011:

• “Let’s Dance”
• “Money Honey”
• “The Fame”
• “Love Game”
• “Boys Boys Boys”
• “Telephone”
• “Born This Way (acoustic)”
• “You & I”
• “Monster”
• “Teeth”
• “Poker Face”
• “Summerboy”
• “Paparazzi”
• “Bad Romance”
• “Born This Way” (encore performance)
• “Happy Birthday”