[Jeff Carpenter]

You should be putting large files like that on a drive other than your system drive. Sometimes when I can get the drive small enough I copy everything that’s left off of it and re-format it by writting zeros to the entire drive. Then I copy whatever I had left back onto it. Sometimes I’m luckyk enough to get all of my jobs done and can just wipe the whole thing.

I don’t know if that’s something that has to be done, but it’s fairly simple so I do it just to be safe.

But in those cases there’s no reason to mess with the system drive itself.

[Jeff Carpenter]

It won’t work for everything you find on the ‘net, but have you tried this yet?
https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/software/Macintosh/osx/default.aspx

If that doesn’t work, I hear other people talk about this a lot:
https://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/

[Jeff Carpenter]

The demo was, yes, and next June (2006) we’ll probably see 32-bit intel chips show up in the Mac Mini and laptops which are all currently 32-bit anyway. So no change there.

But remember, it will likely be January of 2007 before we see an Intel Powermac. I’m not too good at knowing what types of chips will be out in 18 months, but I’d say it’s a pretty good bet Intel will be working in the 64-bit world by then. That’s just a bet, but I’d say it’s a safe bet, wouldn’t you?

(Besides, Apple would have to offer less RAM in the Powermacs if they stepped down. I don’t see that as being a good marketing idea so I doubt it’ll happen. As I said, they’ve got LOTS of time to come up with something.)

[Jeff Carpenter]

Well, this is a big “maybe.”

Right now, the answer is “no” but you could change that with a little bit of money. First off, I would not suggest getting any version of OSX earlier than “Panther” (10.3) I know it seems like an older OS might be better for an older computer, but OSX became a bit better at running on old machines with each revision, I believe.

You can probably find Panther on E-Bay now and I bet the price is going down every day. That’s probably your best bet as far as the OS goes.

Here’s what you’ll need to run it, though:
https://www.apple.com/support/panther/install/

As you can see, you don’t have enough RAM. It sounds like you have 1 RAM chip in your computer which means you have 1 slot still free. You can find the kind of RAM you need here:
https://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?Mfr%2BProductline=Apple%2BiMac&mfr=Apple&tabid=CR&model=iMac+%28G3-233%2C+266%2C+or+333%29&submit=Go

The way I see it, you have 2 good options:
$112 – Buy a 256 chip and have a total of 288 MB of RAM
or
$224 – Buy two 256 chips and replace your current RAM for a total of 512 MB

On the one hand, 512 MB is the best choice, but on the other hand, that’s half as much money as a Mac Mini. So you’ll have to decide if it’s worth that much to you. (Hey, if you have $224 but you don’t have $499 then it’s worth it!)

I’d say OSX would run with either of those setups as long as you’re not too excited about video editing or working with very large photos on a regular basis. But you’re probably not doing too much of that now with your current setup anyway.

So yes, it could work, but given that you’re going to have to spend some money to make it happen I think you should spend a while thinking about upgrading your machine. If you don’t have enough cash to go for something new, I’d suggest something like this:

https://www.powermax.com/cgi-global/generate_css_temp.cgi?p=c-u58123

That would only only be a slight boost over what you have now, but it would only be about $150 more than my idea to buy more RAM for your current computer. It’s worth considering.

Here’s some other options for under $1,000:
https://www.powermax.com/cgi-global/generate_css_temp.cgi?p=c-u57358
https://www.powermax.com/cgi-global/generate_css_temp.cgi?p=c-u57288

At the very least, it will take you between $150 and $250 to get Panther and the RAM you need to run it. Once it gets to that point, I think it’s worth considering all of these options. Good luck with whatever you decide!

[Jeff Carpenter]

Of course, with the final transition to Intel complete by 2007 one can only speculate on the types of GPU technology that we’ll see then.
=====

That’s the big catch to all this speculation. The first Intel Macs next year will probably be laptops and Mac Minis. By the time the Pro machines get converted we’ll be, like you said, far beyond whatever you know now.

We’ll just have to wait and see, but yes, one of the main reasons for this switch was the desire to make Apples the best computers available, so your guesses are probably pretty accurate.

[Jeff Carpenter]

https://www.mcetech.com/dvdr16xdt-d.html

Take a look at MCE. They sell drives with their own drivers that ensure that they’ll work with all Apple apps.

Back when I had a 4x burner I bought an 8x from them and it worked great. It looks like they’re selling 16x with dual-layer burners now.

[Jeff Carpenter]

I would rather have a cinematographer use his or her experience in choosing the focal point instead of an inanimate object making that call.
====

I just wanted to point out what Doug had said earlier, the “push auto” button is very useful. If I zoom in on something, hit the auto on for a second and then zoom out, I’m still “choosing the focal point.” I agree that leaving AF on while panning around is a bad idea. But when I zoom in on a woman’s necklace and hit AF for a second and then zoom back out on manual focus, well I’ve never had that cause a problem.

[Jeff Carpenter]

After that, the left hand is the focus hand, the right hand is on the zoom…
=====

Sorry, I’m using a VX-2000. If I do that then no one is holding the camera.

Hey, I’d be perfectly happy to borrow the DSR-390 from work and use that at weddings. I’d have no AF and I wouldn’t need it. I would take that option in a second, no question! I like my regular job better than my weekend work when it comes to cameras.

But the fact of the matter is, at weddings I’m holding a much smaller camera out in front of me and that’s going to require some compromises.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Yes, the key is to manage when and how you use AF and to not just leave it on. I’ll often be shooting people dancing and I’ll decide to make a quick whip from one dancer to another. I’ll do the whip in manual focus but then instantly hit the AF-button for a half second once I land on the new subject. I then let go of it and go from there, but I’ve found that the AF can put me a lot closer to where I want to be (a lot faster too). I consider this kind of use to be a must for my work.

[Jeff Carpenter]

If your camera has a “Push Auto” button, you have the best of both worlds!
====

Ohh, I love that button! 🙂 It’s certainly the safest way to use AF ’cause you won’t accidentally forget you’ve left it on.