I’m super-impressed with the quality of images coming out of the new iPhone. Yeah, there are probably better cameras you can put into a phone, but there aren’t better phones so that argument becomes kinda moot from my point of view. The way I like to test a decent quality camera is to take low-light photos with it. You’ll find that you can get a decent result with basically any camera if there’s abundant light, but how often do you get perfect light? Never, that’s how often.

So, on my sobering-up, American-Dad-watching journey home from Hove last night, I thought I’d see what sort of results I could get from the updated iPhone camera. I am pleasantly surprised with the results:

The first thing I noticed to my tastes is how noise is handled. Yes, the images got quite noisy, but the deviation from the true colour is much improved with this new camera. By contrast, by iPhone 3G would always throw purples into noise, making it look quite terrible. A lot of cameras do this; I don’t know why.

The image also appears quite stable. The (not always correct/intended) focal points are in focus, even with my rubbish trembling hand, which is another marked improvement on the previous phone.

The iPhone camera is now much quicker to respond. This is a huge advantage over even quite expensive point-and-shoots that I’ve had the displeasure of using. When I hit the shutter release, that’s when I want the photo taken – not in a few seconds. Charlotte’s Canon G9 is a huge offender for this, and phones I’ve used previously have been as well. One of the main reasons for my preference of SLRs over more consumer-aimed cameras (I know, who hasn’t got an SLR) is that the shutter responds instantly. This is the first (admittedly, not of many) non-SLR that has an acceptably immediate shutter release.

Whilst I could go further into the clarity of images compared with previous iterations, you can see all that from the photos. These points are the main, non-immediately-obvious reasons that the iPhone camera has vastly improved with iPhone 4. I even went out yesterday for the first time in nearly two years without taking my main camera with me.

I should point out that these images aren’t intended to be an exercise in “look at this beautiful photo I’m proud of”, more, “look at how well this performs in these conditions”.

Just got back from seeing Up. Greatest animated movie I’ve ever seen. Bar none. I have no idea how Pixar always excel themselves, but they do. They’re just the most amazing, cute, imaginative, heart-warming movies I think you could want. Screw Dreamworks and their lame-ass tripe. Pixar til I die (hardcore’s overrated).

Oddly, though – these glasses fit my double-wide head perfectly. These kids don’t stand a chance.

The original being so open to interpretation, and that you could make any interpretation work are why you can’t just give some hack free reign to do whatever he wants with it!

As much as it may tempt you, seriously don’t be taken in by S. Darko. It’s a waste of your life that you don’t have the commodity of time travel to undo.

All this being said, whoever picks their support acts needs to lay off whatever it is they’re laying on. There’s no need to book shitty indie-by-numbers bands to make TBR sound better because they are always great. Nevertheless, tonight was a douzie.

First “act” took the form of Red Drapes (I’m not linking to their myspace as that will cement an association with them and I don’t want that), who were utterly awful. The whole band seemed totally bewildered by their surroundings and instruments in a way that didn’t work at all. I’ve seen live acts fight with their instruments before and it can be a really effective show, but the key is to have good songs as a contrast. It becomes ironic, which you can appreciate in context. Red Drapes play safe, boring songs which seem to be trying to piggyback the latent Kaiser Chiefs success of over-anunciated narrative and little discernible musical talent. The less said about it, the better (though I’ll probably say the most about them – it’s so much easier to belittle than to give praise!).

Next up were female-fronted Kaputt. Don’t think badly of me for making a deal out of the female member, because it’s unavoidable. It’s not very often I come across girl musicians who I would listen to more than once (I am personally obliged to mention the awesome Made out of Babies each time I talk about women in music) so I make a deal out of it. Kaputt will certainly not be everyone’s cup of tea; simple-concept songs with very few lyrics, chanted rather than sung with the occasional 80s-sounding keys and a guitarist who’s really just taking up space. A welcome swill of mouthwash to clear the nasty taste of Red Drapes (there’s a crude metaphor in there – watch me sidestep it gracefully).

Onto the raison d’être. I won’t ever be someone to say that anything is perfect, but TBR do their best to make that difficult for me. Because of their true indie upbringing, their live sound isn’t far removed from that of the studio. However, to watch them is to truly appreciate just how much they enjoy doing what they do and this is the reason to go. A band that is inexplicably always the bridesmaid (once supported by the now-far-too-successful Editors) has never seemed disheartened and continue to lose themselves on stage – the minutes of their set just disappears. Playing a great range of tracks from both of their studio albums and their great rapport with the crowd makes you forget that the air conditioning is leaking on you and you’re sweating horribly. It’s not often I will tell someone to listen to a band but, The Boxer Rebellion, you should. Go to their shows (they will be near you at some point, I almost guarantee it), buy their CDs and enjoy them.

(Sorry, Piers. One day I’ll come to a show and take only pictures of your dark-corner-hiding self!)

More photos of The Boxer Rebellion at The Joiners on May 15th 2009

I have, however, found a way to combat my laziness with it’s strongest rival—you guessed it—my compulsiveness! Lists. Until recently, I listed everything in my diary, in a notebook, on my laptop, basically anywhere I could find some paper. That is, until I started using GTD apps.

I started out with Cultured Code‘s Things. A deceptively simple app that organises your lists into projects, areas and tags with a useful Quick Entry HUD for creating tasks as soon as you think of them (so they don’t just go in and out). I love the simplicity of Things, and the fact that it has a counterpart iPhone app (buggy though it may be) is very useful. I used it briefly in the beta, but I just couldn’t integrate it with my workflow. It wasn’t until I started listing everything I do that I saw how useful having this on a computer could potentially be.

As much as I love Things, it does have some holes. I won’t go into all of them, because a lot are bugs in the software or things that are on the roadmap, so it wouldn’t be fair. All I’ll say is that I’m no longer using Things, and have replaced it with Potion Factory‘s The Hit List.

For me, The Hit List’s single feature that sets it apart from Things is the presence of timer functionality for each item in your lists. You simply select an item, hit B and the timer starts. As a freelancer (or anyone who works on billable projects, really) this is incredibly useful. I create lists that directly map onto projects that I’m working on, so being able to log time against each item shows me not only how long each aspect takes me (for future quoting), but how much to charge.

The Hit List is still in beta, but I’ve found it to be very usable. I’ve only had to restart it once, when the HUD wouldn’t invoke, and it’s not done it since so I’m happy! There is also the promise of an iPhone app (which I have found to be almost a must-have), which I hope materialises soon.

Now that I have my GTD app in-hand, I’m able to make lists and set deadlines. My compulsiveness doesn’t like deadlines, oh no. It forces me off the sofa and to the sink to do the washing up, or to take out the bins, or to send the email I’ve been putting off and offers laziness as a reward. How generous!

So, there you have it, if you’re compulsive like me, but also incredibly lazy at times; try pitting your compulsiveness against your laziness. If you give it the right ammo, compulsiveness always wins!

I say “review”, but I’ve only had it a day so I can only comment on so much.

The main problem I have (other than an insatiable addiction to bags) is that I like to always have my camera on me. This is normally OK, but sometimes I need to take my laptop when I go out, but I don’t want to leave my camera. Until recently, I’ve been using a Jansport messenger bag, but it doesn’t provide a lot of support for my camera and lens (as I horrifyingly discovered) and there’s no space for anything other than camera and lens.

I’ve always had great experience with Crumpler bags. They’re very well-made, look good and are relatively subtle. They also seem to be the only bag company that can make a decent strap. At any one time, I could have around £4,000 worth of stuff in my bag—I need to know that I can trust my strap! I have a Tom Bihn Empire Builder that I’ve never really used because the strap felt far too flimsy to carry the bag. The key here is wideness, I feel.

One thing I dislike about Crumpler is the arbitrary sizing of their products. I’m sure that “620″ refers to something, but it doesn’t provide me anything very useful when choosing a bag that’s going to fit all my kit in. They are also very generous with their prediction of what their range is able to hold. From the Crumpler EU site:

For 2 SLRs + 4 lenses. Fits 12”, 13”, 14”, 15”w laptops

Now, for some people this may be fine—2 small-body SLRs would certainly fit, but I’m having trouble seeing where the 4 lenses would go. This is what I’m fitting in it (without the actual kit – That’s what I’m using to take the picture!)

As you can see, they’re not talking about lenses with hoods there. The 24-70′s hood alone occupies all the space on the left!

I am very pleased that the bag fits my laptop and camera equipment at the same time. I bought a bag before that claimed to do this, and the battery grip made the camera too tall to get the laptop in as well! There is plenty of padding to protect the contents from each other.

Crumpler are very good at concealing pockets. The front pocket is ridiculous—it folds right out of the front of the bag and has enough space to fit my diary, pens, iPod, hard drive, headphones and more (I need to be able to stand under the weight of this thing when it’s full!). It even closes easily when very full which is, well, mind-bottling [sic]!

As you can probably tell, I’m really pleased with this bag. Crumpler could be less generous when describing the potential contents of the bag, however the fact is that stuff could fit, but who has 4 50mm f/1.8s!? I’m sure that as my kit collection grows, I’ll stay with Crumpler (maybe even the New Delhi if the 770 could fit an additional 14-24mm and a 70-200mm!) if only because they’re well-made and look good!

I bought mine from Clifton Cameras, and highly recommend their service.