Archive for March, 2008
Apple updates Aperture photo software with version 2.1
Digital Camera Reviews, OH
Apple has released an update to the latest release of its popular RAW conversion and photo editing software, Aperture.
The headline update in version 2.1 is the addition of open plug-in architecture; expect third-party plug-ins for Aperture, including Tiffen’s Dfx and PictureCode’s Noise Ninja, to begin providing a range of new tools within the software in the near future. To this end, Apple got the plug-in ball rolling, providing a manufacturer-developed dodge and burn tool with Aperture 2.1.
Aperture 2.1 is available for purchase directly from Apple for $199, or as a free update for Aperture 2.0 users.
Kodak expands digital photo frame lineup with three new models
Kodak has announced three new additions to its Easyshare line of digital photo and multimedia frames. The multimedia Kodak Easyshare M820 and M1020, and the photo-only Easyshare P720 all feature Kodak’s Quick Touch Border interface technology, which allows the user to control the frame’s functions via an illuminated, e
March 31st, 2008
Samsung NV24HD HD Digital Camera with AMOLED Display unveiled
TechShout!, India
Samsung has rolled out its latest VLUU NV24HD HD digital camera. The new digicam flaunts a 2.5-inch AMOLED display along with a slew of other interesting features and specifications.
Samsung boasts that the NV24HD camera displays high definition images with greater speeds and precision thanks to DRIM Engine II, a high speed image processing technology. The digital camera incorporates a 10.2MP sensor with 24mm ultra optical wide 3.6x zoom lens.
The NV24HD makes clear HD level stereo video recording is achievable as it supports 1280×720p at 30fps. Full HD images can be captured via upgraded HDMI. The other salient features of the new Samsung camera are an automatic shooting function for smiling face recognition, a Face Detection function for the best portrait shots, a Red Eye Fix function for the automatic post-correction of red eye shots and many more.
No info on the pricing and availability details of the Samsung NV24HD digital camera as of now.
Well, what can we say, is the model luckier to have the pretty looking NV24HD in his hand, or is it perhaps the other way round!
March 28th, 2008
Clean Your Digital SLR Camera’s Image Sensor
PC World
Zack Stern, PC World
Monday, March 24, 2008 10:00 PM PDT
If you look closely enough at photos taken with a digital single-lens reflex camera that’s been used for a while, you’ll probably see the dark silhouette of sensor grime. These opaque specks–the result of dust and detritus that has settled inside your camera’s body–can become recorded into photos, permanently fuzzing or blocking parts of the image.
Even if you never change lenses, dust can still drift into a camera body and land on the sensor, causing this speckling problem. And even bigger particles can easily reach the sensor if you do swap lenses. Some advanced digital SLRs now offer auto-cleaning modes that try to shake these particles loose. Such features help, but they’re often not enough to ensure blemish-free photos. Here’s how to manually do the job of cleaning your DSLR camera’s sensor–safely and effectively.
A number of DSLR cleaning products are available to choose from. Many of the kits can be overkill, including those with vacuums and other nice-but-unneeded tools. One optional extra I do like, the Delkin SensorScope, acts as a magnifying glass to identify debris.
High-end tools like these are convenient, but I’ll show you how to test the sensor without buying a $90 gadget. Instead, start with a basic swab-and-fluid kit before considering upgrades. I prefer the Photographic Solutions Digital Survival Kit because of its no-frills approach and low cost. Just be sure to pick the right version of a kit for your specific camera, because some fluids react badly with some sensors. Consult the kit manufacturer’s Web site to find the right kit for your camera. Also verify that the swab size matches your camera, so you don’t end up with something too big.
Get Started
Before you begin, it’s important to note that the sensor-cleaning process can damage your camera if you use the wrong tools. If you follow your cleaning kit instructions precisely, you should easily make it through without any problem.
But don’t clean the sensor if the lens is the real culprit. Use a blower to puff any debris off the front of the lens, and follow up with a nonabrasive cloth. Use the same technique on the inside of the lens, where it mounts to the camera. Liquid cleaners can damage lens coatings–never use an off-the-shelf household cleaner. If required, apply a cleaner that’s specially formulated for camera lenses.
Locate the Dust
Now, here’s how to test the sensor before cleaning it. In an area with lots of light, set your camera with as small an aperture as the lens allows. Focus on a blank, white surface like a sheet of paper, and use the aperture-priority mode so that the camera automatically sets the proper shutter speed. Fire some test photos to use as precleaning, “before” images. These will help you spot dirty areas on the sensor and will also give you a point of comparison after you’ve finished cleaning.
Open the test images on your PC, and zoom in at 100 percent to show one photo pixel per one display pixel. These photos should show the same even, white surface that you photographed.
Look for tiny, translucent droplets, dark specks, or thin lines. Clothing fibers, hair, pollen, and environmental debris can leave these marks. If they appear in the same position across all photos, a dirty sensor is the culprit. (If you don’t see any dots at all, stop here, because that means your sensor is already clean.)
Clean the Sensor
Activate the camera’s manual cleaning mode to flip open the mirror, and then remove the lens. Be sure that the battery is fully charged–or work with an AC adapter–because the mirror or prism will slam shut when the camera loses power or is turned off. You can damage the camera’s optics with your cleaning tools if they get in the way.
If you can clearly see something on the sensor, try to knock it off with air from a squeeze-bulb blower. Open a new sensor swab, and add two or three drops of the Eclipse solution to the tip. With a little sweeping gesture–gentle but firm–drag the swab laterally across your sensor. Twist the swab 180 degrees and drag it across in the opposite direction so that the clean side is leading the second pickup. Throw out the used swab.
Reattach the lens, and close the mirror or prism. Shoot additional test photos to see if you cleared out all of the debris. If not, repeat these cleaning steps until the sensor shines.
If you’re away from home–especially if you’re outdoors–don’t try to clean the sensor directly. Instead, puff a few gusts from a bulb blower into the camera without making physical contact. Save the direct cleaning for when you’re back in a controlled environment.
Keep the Sensor Clean
The best way to keep the sensor as clean as possible is to be mindful of your lenses. Swap these attachments quickly, keeping the camera body and both sides of the lens capped when not mounted together. If you have extra body- and lens-socket caps, lock them together in storage to block outside elements. The longer any one of these surfaces is exposed, the more likely it’ll gather grime.
March 25th, 2008
Sigma launches new wide-aperture 50mm HSM lens
Digital Camera Reviews, OH
Sigma has done a one-up on the other wide-aperture 50mm primes on the market with the announcement last week of its 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM.
The company’s latest “fast 50″ sports Sigma’s ring-type Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) focus drive, promising fast, near-silent AF operation and instant manual focus override just by turning the focusing ring. The EX pro-series lens also uses multi-layer coating to control flare and ghosting, and aspherical elements for aberration correction.
The new 50mm is slated for release in Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, and Sigma mounts. No word from the maker on pricing or availability.
Sony’s new full-frame DSLR out in the open at Photo Imaging Expo
Tokyo hosted the Photo Imaging Expo 2008 late last week, and while there hasn’t been a flood of news from the show, apparently Sony’s planned full-frame pro DSLR that we reported on during PMA got a little more solid this week.
The photography blog masterchong.com posted several hands-on photos with the new camera (seen only under glass at PMA), along with shots of a new Sony external flash unit and battery grip to accompany the release. The new model, speculatively called the Alpha A900 and targeted squarely at pro bodies from Canon and Nikon, utilizes a newly developed 24.6 megapixel CMOS sensor.
Reports from PIE have confirmed that we should expect final versions of the A900 to make an appearance in time for Photokina in the fall.
Check out the images at masterchong.com.
Thanks to DCR moderator usapatriot for the tip!
New firmware for Canon EOS 30D, EOS 5D released
Canon has updated the firmware for its EOS 30D and EOS 5D DSLRs.
The latest 30D firmware adds camera-side EXIF support and automatic lens correction functionality in Canon’s Digital Photo Professional RAW conversion software for a long list of lenses. Firmware for the 5D adds the same lens support and also corrects an issue with high-capacity CF cards.
Canon’s website has download and installation instructions for both 30D firmware version 1.0.6 and 5D firmware version 1.1.1.
March 24th, 2008
Panasonic Unveils Touch-Screen LUMIX Digital Camera
HULIQ, NC
Panasonic announces the LUMIX DMC-FX500, the company’s first digital camera with a 3-inch touch-screen LCD – also featuring a 25mm ultra-wide-angle Leica DC lens, 5x optical zoom and 10.1 megapixels.
With a dual control system using both touch-screen and joystick operation, the ability to record High Definition (HD) video and advanced Intelligent Auto technologies, the FX500 packs innovative features and intuitive design, helping consumers enrich the digital photography experience and take better photos.
“With the FX500’s touch-screen operation, we are giving our consumers a new interface that we think will prove extremely intuitive during playback, photo organization and of course – helping to take high-quality photos,†said Alex Fried, National Marketing Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “The FX500 represents a new flagship model for Panasonic, as we add brand-new capabilities to our already popular, slim and stylish FX-Series of LUMIX digital cameras and we introduce another model that features a 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens.â€
The FX500 has a hybrid control system that combines joystick control with touch-screen operation, so users can make fine adjustments by touch, using their finger, or the LUMIX stylus-pen that comes with the FX500. In manual exposure mode, adjustments can be made using the on-screen sliders to adjust aperture and shutter speeds. In playback mode, a new Easy Organization menu allows for photos to be selected and viewed by scrolling through the thumbnails located below the main window. Then, users can edit the titles using an on-screen keyboard.
The FX500 expands Panasonic’s family of wide-angle LUMIX digital cameras and joins the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FX35 as an ultra-wide-angle lens with a 25mm wide-angle lens, which can capture almost double the photo area at the same shooting distance compared with a conventional 35mm lens*. Also new to the FX500 is Auto Focus (AF) tracking, a feature that tracks the photo subject even if it moves after the AF is set – especially helpful for catching active children or pets.
Panasonic’s iA (Intelligent Auto) mode is an advanced system of technologies that engage automatically, so the user does not have to change any settings. Maximizing the iA mode, users can go a step further and easily set auto focus and exposure by simply touching the screen. This kind of quick, easy operation is made possible with the touch-screen technology.
.Intelligent Exposure – To help correct photos from being under- or over-exposed, the FX500 instantly analyzes the framed image and adjusts the brightness in areas that are too dark because of dim lighting, backlighting or the use of the flash.
· Digital Red-eye Correction– Helps eliminate the red-eye problem that sometimes results when taking flash shots at the night. Incorporated into the built-in flash, the camera emits a small preliminary flash before the main flash, detects red-eye and digitally corrects it.
· MEGA O.I.S. – Gyrosensors detect hand-shake and the lens system shifts to compensate, helping to prevent hand-shake from creating a blurry image.
· Intelligent ISO – Determines if the photo subject is moving and changes the ISO setting and shutter speed accordingly.
· Intelligent Scene Selector – Senses the ambient conditions, recognizes the shooting environment and automatically selects the appropriate scene mode from: Scenery, Portrait, Macro, Night Portrait or Night Scenery mode.
· Face Detection – Detects faces anywhere in the frame and automatically chooses the optimal focus and exposure settings so portraits come out clear and crisp. Detecting up to 15 faces, Panasonic’s Face Detection can even track a face if the subject is moving.
· Continuous AF – Maintains focus on the subject even without the user pressing a shutter button halfway, thus minimizing the AF time.
Other features include its ability to take1280 x 720p HD video content and still photos with a 16:9 aspect ratio, perfect for viewing on an HDTV. In addition, the FX500 incorporates the Venus Engine IV processor, featuring more advanced digital signal processing technology for taking even higher-quality images. The fdsa proprietary Venus Engine IV also heightens the detection accuracy and corrective features in both MEGA O.I.S. and Intelligent ISO Control.
The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FX500 will be available in black and silver models for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $399.95 in May 2008.-Panasonic
March 24th, 2008
Panasonic Announces Touchscreen Digital Camera With HD Video
Wired News
The touch user interface is slowly creeping into every relevant gadget and Panasonic is getting into the game by releasing a touchscreen-operated point-and-shoot camera today. The Panasonic LUMIX FX500 will feature a 3-inch LCD touch UI allowing you to touch-adjust aperture and shutter settings, and even set the focus and exposure frames in the middle of a recording.
There’s also a new Easy Organization feature where you organize your pictures by touching a picture thumbnail to select, and then an onscreen keyboard pops up so that you can title each picture. That is much better than waiting after upload them to the PC.
But Panasonic didn’t go completely naked into the touchscreen-only night, like Apple did with the iPhone. Instead, they hedged their bets by mixing in a regular joystick and an odd, key-like stylus that’s begging to be lost. Maybe next time they’ll have the courage to go the full monty.
The FX500 will also feature the latest 25mm ultra-wide angle Leica DC lens, go up to a 5x optical zoom set, and stays at the 10.1-megapixel level of the other top-line cams.
It will also record HD video at 1280 x 720p and HD stills with a 16:9 aspect ratio. In addition, there’s Auto Focus (AF) tracking, a burst shooting mode high at 6 frames/sec, and a full-resolution burst mode at 2.5 frames/sec.
The camera is scheduled to come out (in black and silver models) around the middle of May, for $400.
So that’s ‘the touch’ in another gadget. Not quite the same as the touch leader, but it is another mark on the way to the feature’s ubiquity. Even if it’s not true that every gadget needs the touch, manufacturers have psyched themselves out into believing this is so.
In the words of the late Johnnie Cochran, “If it doesn’t have touch, the other gadgets will eat it for lunch. I’m not exaggerating much — wait, hear that crunch? That’s your non-touch gadget young man.â€
March 19th, 2008
Nikon connects its new S51c camera to the net with Wi-Fi capability, but are its photos worth uploading?
infoSync World, Norway
The Wi-Fi functionality in Nikon’s Coolpix S51c just might be an evolutionary step for point-and-shoot (perhaps all) cameras, but it isn’t quite intuitive yet. Too bad, because it’s otherwise the camera’s best feature: for a $250 MRSP, the image-quality is average at best and the video-quality outright mediocre, and curiously Nikon’s software bundle includes a multi-image panorama utility but no basic editing-software. For users who crave the immediacy of Wi-Fi uploading, the S51c may fit the bill, but others could do better for less money. Release: September 2007. Price: $250.
Pros: Wi-Fi connectivity, panorama-assist utility, external charger, film-grainy noise
Cons: Unwieldy ergonomics, Wi-Fi can be flaky over WEP and troublesome to setup for WPA/WPA-2, no editing software, average image-quality, terrible video-quality
March 18th, 2008
In era of gadgets, old ways are still best
People’s Daily Online, China
The simpler, the better.
In preparing to cover this year’s two-week legislative meeting, the newspaper I work for asked Wang Wenlan, a veteran photographer, to give writers a crash course on how to snap pictures for those occasions when our photographers are not immediately available.
“All you need is a foolproof camera, which allows you to do your work conveniently, without distracting or offending the subject,” Wang said.
The simple solution offered by the award-winning vice-chairman of the China Photographers Association echoed in my mind, as I believe the same simplicity could be applied to journalism in the digital era, when the profession has been complicated and journalists are sometimes bewildered by new must-have gadgets.
I am referring to the all of the high-tech “weaponry” available – the Internet surfing PDAs, digital recorders and video cameras that some of the people covering the session are carrying.
A humble pen and notepad, plus some curiosity and observant eyes and ears are all that reporters really need to do their job.
I have covered the annual legislative sessions for seven years in a row. In 2001, I went to the conference carrying nothing more than a notebook, a ball-point pen and a tape recorder. This year, my only change was to switch to a digital audio recorder.
While the recorder has helped reduce the odds of misquoting someone, I find relying on it for interviews leads not only to time-consuming transcribing afterwards, but also makes some speakers shy or more careful.
The popularity of the Internet increased in China, offering reporters a new tool to use when looking for clues and doing research. But I found an obsession with the Web could lead to a very dull experience for reporters.
While the Internet speeds up the flow of information, some go to extremes. At a press conference on agriculture last week, a few reporters walked out midway through because on-the-spot stenographers were helping designated websites broadcast the meeting online, offering full texts of the questions and answers in “real-time”.
Even if one is toiling for new media, the traditional approach to journalism is still essential when it comes to telling a story.
For example, this year our newspaper for the first time invited senior lawmakers and policy advisors to our website for online chat sessions with Internet users.
Even with digital recordings, video streaming being the “infrastructure”, I find that good moderators will employ those time-tested journalism skills – asking questions and stimulating the guests to respond.
Our guest last Tuesday was lawmaker Zhou Qiang, who is also governor of Hunan province, who came to our chat room and talked to netizens about topics ranging from snowstorm relief to investment. I did not miss the points like “How has your law education influenced your career as one of the youngest provincial chiefs in China at 47?”
Perhaps what Wang Wenlan really wanted to convey was this: For reporters, it is not the tool that matters so much as the way it is used.
Source: China Daily
March 17th, 2008
Canon Digital Ixus 900 Ti
PC Authority, Australia
The “Ti†in 900 Ti means this Ixus boasts a titanium shell and, despite its elegant looks, it feels almost bulletproof. It’s a regular Canon at heart, though, so if you’ve used a Digital Ixus before you’ll instantly be at home. Newcomers may find it takes a few outings for the controls to become second nature, but once you’ve acclimatised to the system it’s consistent and responsive.
On automatic settings, the 900 Ti produced sharp, well-exposed images across all of our tests. In our outdoor test, it produced a very appealing shot, with balanced lighting and the sort of crisp detail you’d expect with a 10-megapixel CCD. At extreme close-up in Photoshop, we saw some noise and smudgy colouring in areas of low contrast, but don’t be alarmed by this: the high resolution means that even if you blow your prints up to A3, such flaws should be imperceptible from normal viewing distances.
The camera’s macro mode achieved a focal distance of around 5cm – not exceptional, but fine for most uses. Colours were perhaps a little less vibrant than those produced by some other cameras, but more accurately represented the actual lighting conditions.
Our twilight test revealed an excellent dynamic range: although dark areas were predictably underexposed, the camera still captured a remarkable amount of detail, which we were easily able to recover in Photoshop. There’s no anti-shake mode as such, but the camera’s ISO 3200 setting allowed us to take relatively sharp low-light shots without a tripod. Movies were acceptably clear and smooth at 640 x 480 and, while there’s the first 1024 x 768 mode we’ve seen, it cuts the frame rate to a jerky 15fps.
If the Ixus 900 Ti has a drawback, it’s the 3x optical zoom, which is really the bare minimum for a modern compact digital camera. The 10-megapixel output gives you plenty of scope to work around this by cropping your pictures before printing them, but it would have been nice not to have to.
Apart from this, the 900 Ti does more or less everything right. It’s small yet tough, so you can carry it everywhere with you, and it uses standard SD cards and a standard mini-USB cable for total convenience. If you want a longer zoom, you might find the Sony DSC-T100 more approachable, but if you value versatility and portability the Ixus 900 Ti is a winner.
March 17th, 2008
Canon Expands Digital Elph Series
PC Magazine
Canon announced three new PowerShot cameras on Wednesday with improved face detection and a new Intelligent Anti-Blur system.
by David Gussman
Canon today announced three new updates to its already outstanding Digital Elph camera line: the PowerShot SD890 IS, SD790 IS, and SD770 IS. All models feature 10 megapixels, include a new Intelligent Anti-Blur system, and improved face detection. The main differences can be found in body design, but I expect similar results and image quality from each.
The high-end SD890 IS replaces the SD850 IS, and features a 5X optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD screen, and a 37–185mm equivalent lens. The SD890 has more of a curve at the end of it than the SD850, and is slightly smaller.
The SD790 IS will replace the SD750, and has a 3X optical zoom, 35–105mm equivalent lens, and a 3-inch LCD screen. Of the three cameras announced, the SD790 exhibits the most design changes. For example, Canon’s familiar wheel on the back of the camera has been redesigned; it’s more touch friendly with raised bumps to help in accessing settings while concentrating on taking the shot.
The most interesting model, however, goes to the SD770 IS. The least expensive of the three, (and another camera replacing the popular SD1000), it resembles the SD1000 in that instead of the new curvaceous design of the recently released SD1100 IS, it keeps the box-like design that users seemed to respond to.
Each new model shares a number of fresh features, too. The improved face detection mode includes the ability to detect up to nine faces, and a new autofocus feature gives users more options when shooting a particular scene. Even more, when a face is detected, the camera will automatically select the proper white balance, flash setting, and exposure if needed, and will also automatically correct red eye while shooting.
Also improved is image stabilization. Canon is now referring to it as the Intelligent Anti-Blur system. Combining optical image stabilization, motion detection, Hi-ISO auto, and noise reduction, camera shake has been significantly reduced. In addition, Canon is claiming that images will basically be free of movement because its new system actually moves the lens to compensate for shake. Of course, I’ll have to wait and see if it truly works, once I get these models into the PC Magazine Labs.
The Canon PowerShot SD890 IS, SD790 IS, and SD770 IS will be available in early April and will sell for $399.99, $349.99, and $299.99, respectively.
March 14th, 2008
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