GSD Keep-Alive Ping + the new E-P1!

cc image credit: Black Olympus Trip 35 on Flickr by Hermés

Hi all.

I’m still here.  I just realized it’s been over half-a-month since the last post.

Work is crazy-wild with longer-than-normal sessions in the bull-pen and on the mound, along with weekends chock-full of special family-focused down-time.

Please remain confident that my to-blog pile is reaching critical mass.

I’ve got the usual load of Microsoft Windows OS related topics in the wings, a curiously free amazing on-line collaboration tool, stupid MS Office taming tips, a mess of browser news, and linkage galore of security-related tools and various utilities.

Also in works, a specific “while-in-the-trenches” post on a live-fire failing disk recovery session with two neat new free tools I uncovered in the process.  Oh yes…I guess I need to mention the drive in focus involved a blown-out PGP Whole Disk Encryption load. Yikes!  Expect some new pgpwde.exe command-line support resources as well in that pre-or-post post. (Did that make any sense?)

Completely unrelated….Olympus cameras…

I’ve been taking out my old Olympus Trip-35 and longingly holding it a bit.  I haven’t worked up the courage to drop some old-school 35mm film in for kicks.

While Jonesing on the Trip-35 I found this Flickr: Olympus Trip-35 group with some great old/new photo sessions.  It’s been a blast reading around.  The more I research/read up on the web on the Trip-35 the more I am amazed at this little tool.

I loved taking photos with it as a kid and still think it has taken some of my favorite photos. I’m not sure of the technical reason the photos appeal to me. There’s just something about them that stands out from images from other cameras I’ve used over the years.  Not being a pro I can’t explain it but there is a distinct retro-like visual appeal to them I seem to sense.  Maybe it just me reading more into it because I know the camera body is probably as old as I am.  Eventually I’ll figure out how to scan my negatives in on the HP scanner we bought some time ago. Failing that I will just scan some of the prints in and share.

Anyway, my love and joy of the little Trip-35 platform has kept the desire in me for a digital version. I think I would really get more use out of this format that a full-bore entry-level DSLR camera with my shooting style (more casual/photo-journalistic/street-shooting).

So recent word that Olympus might be coming out with a digital “range-finder” camera this summer intrigued me:

• Olympus to Release Digital Rangefinder This Summer - Wired.com
• Olympus unveils rangefinder inspired Micro Four Thirds concept

I’ve been scouring the Net for news and today found this website offered to me by Olympus from a news signup I registered for.

The object of my desire?

• The E-P1 digital rangefinder - Olympus

cc image credit: Olympus E-P1: Sleek frame on Flickr by bfishadow

Quite likely after wasting over an hour on the website tonight as well as even more on the following reviews and linkage.

Here’s the first onslaught of E-P1 gushing to hit the web I’ve started to turn over.

• Retro-Futurism: Olympus’s New Rangefinder-Inspired Digital Camera - Popular Science
• Olympus E-P1 Hands-on Preview: 1. Introduction - Digital Photography Review
• Olympus Digital PEN Launched - James Duncan Davidson
• Olympus E-P1 First Look - Digital Camera Resource Page

And here are a collection of interesting digital photo samples of the E-P1 output in action

• Olympus E-P1 Photos - PhotographyBLOG
• bfishadow’s stuff tagged with ep1 - Flickr
• "Hands on" • Olympus PEN E-P1 - a set on Flickr

I close with this: A shameless E-P1 viral-ad pandering to the Will It Blend? fans.

Will It Blend? - Roberts Raw!

Stay tuned!

--Claus V.