I may have ended my 365 project early, but I still take plenty of photos with my Samsung Galaxy S2, and the results are all still making their way to Instagram and my InstaGary site. And It’s still all good fun, playing with new apps and filters. The latest app I’ve discovered is Painteresque, available on Android, and by far the best filter I’ve found yet for turning photos into paintings. The results are shown in the picture below.
But my main photographic interest, if not the main source of my snaps quantity wise, is still my Olympus Pen. I haven’t used it as much of late But I have plans for my Pen. I have my beady eye set on a new lens. It’s an f1.7 unit, priced right and would enable me to get so much more out of the camera. It isn’t just the lack of a bright piece of glass at the end of the sensor holding me back though.
My laptop. I bought it in 2008, and it shows. The CD drive stopped working years ago, as they always seem to do with laptops. The camera and speakers have also since died. USB ports are ceasing to function. And despite reformats to clear the clutter, it’s just so, so, so slow. Painfully slow. Made worse by the fact that I’m running, or trying to run, the latest processor and RAM intensive photo and video editors. As far as other programs are concerned, I run resource-light apps and software to try and keep things moving. For antivirus software I use Norton – it keeps the bad guys out of my system. Just as importantly it lets the good guys in my system function properly. It is quite possibly the only program that I do use that is both up-to-date and easy on resources.
It is, most definitely, time for a new laptop. I have my beady eye cast on a few units. HP, Sony, Samsung and Lenovo are all candidates. It’s just going to depend on who is offering the biggest bang for my buck when the time comes for me to buy. No brand is off the list though, other than Apple, so suggestions/recommendations are welcome. My requirements are quite simple. A minimum of an Intel Core i5 processor, 6 megs of RAM and a 17″ screen.
I’m just a little peeved that I’ll be buying a few weeks before Windows 8 is released. Although that might not be a bad thing. I’m sure I’ve read that last minute Windows 7 buyers will get a free update, and maybe I can hold off going through with that update until everyone else has suffered from the early release bugs!
