I have expressed my love/hate relationship with technology a few times in this blog and in some of my articles. A few recent events just emphasize this relationship in my mind. Unfortunately, once you jump into processing your images on a computer, you can’t completely turn a blind eye to all the jargon and gadgets you need to get used to. This week I have a RMA to send a hard drive back, and a new lens to begin putting through the paces.
The Hate Part..As for the drive, I noticed my hard drive where I keep all of my programs and basic data files was getting a bit low on free space. Ok, so a bit of browsing on Newegg.com turned up a 300 GB hard drive for a reasonable price that seemed to be compatible with my system. The new drive arrives – strangely wrapped in bubble wrap and an anti-stat bag – and that’s it! No box, no instructions – a pretty bare bones package. From an environmental standpoint, I suppose it was good there wasn’t all that extra packaging anyway. I think they should have at least put a sticker on it stating “for those who better know what they are doing..” Well, to wrap up this drive saga, I downloaded some ‘transfer software’ from the manufacturer that allows you to setup partitions and transfer the data from your old drive to your new one, supposedly making it ‘bootable.’ After about 4 tries of trying to get through the transfer, multiple reboots, and having it crash about 90% the way through – I had had it. The drive will be returned, and I am tempted to just wrap it in some newspaper and duct tape for its ride back.

The love part..one thing you can be certain of – just when you think you have enough lenses, there is always seems to be a new one you thought you could do without. Well, I caved into picking up one of the new Nikon 105mm f2.8 VR AFS macro lenses, which will probably replace my 105 f2.8 AF macro lens. Although the VR (vibration reduction) feature will not likely help me much for macro work, the lens has some other nice features that I thought I could use. For one, it works with teleconverters – so I will be able to increase magnification further by using my 1.4 and 1.7 teleconverters with ease, something I could not do with the older lens. It also has some other nice perks of having a redesigned aperture for better ‘bokeh’ (out of focus element quality), and one of the first Nikon lenses I have seen with a dust seal gasket. It also does not extend in length while focusing, something that bugged me occasionally with the older 105. I am looking forward to seeing what this new lens is capable of.

I still have to decide what to do with my drive space situation. But instead, I think I will ignore it for awhile and spend the time with the new lens.