Olympus µ 790 SW Lime Green edition
Posted on October 20, 2007 - Filed Under Digital, Photo, Reviews | Leave a Comment
If the four colors in which Olympus offers its tough little µ 790 SW don’t quite float your boat, there’s no need to panic. There is now a fifth option in the form of this fetching shade of lime green. Guaranteed to attract the attention of any (conscious) subject you should choose to aim it at, the camera also promises exclusivity with a mere 5000 to be distributed across Europe. The pricing should remain the same as the ‘standard’ edition.
Software Review – Corel Painter X
Posted on October 20, 2007 - Filed Under Culture, Photo | Leave a Comment
Corel Painter X is the latest release of Corel's advanced digital art studio software. The goal of this version is to continue to focus on the fundamentals of art technique, and theory, while adding new features that help artists achieve perfect compositions.
Corel Painter X is focused on four major groups. First are Commercial Designers who require tools to create their visions. Next, Entertainment Artists who need tools to speed their production time. Photographers have, in recent years, begun using Corel Painter to explore new avenues for creative work, and additional revenue. Finally, there are the Fine Artists who use digital as "just another medium" within the world of art.
What do you need to run Corel Painter X? Well Windows or Mac; 700 MHz or better (Intel Mac as well). 256 MB (512 recommended) Mouse or Tablet. 24-bit Color display with 1024×768 screen resolution. CD-Rom and around 350 MB hard disk space.
So what is new with this version of Corel Painter X?
• RealBristle Painting System – This heightens the responsiveness of the brush for the artist, and is a break through for digital painting. It allows the artist to more realistically replicate the interaction between the paint, canvas, and the brush. It really gives the bend, and splay look, as one would expect with a real brush; see the image below.
• Divine Proportion – Is a tool that allows the artist to arrange their canvas prior to drawing or painting. This technique has been used since 300 BC, and can be used to assist artists create visually stunning compositions. By using the tool, you can visually arrange the canvas in a precise formula, for more appealing images; see the image below.
• Layout Grid – There are three preset Layout Grids; Rule of thirds, 3×5, and 5×5, or the user can customize to any configuration of choice. This helps the artist arrange the canvas, or photo, prior to drawing, or painting. This helps layout the form so that they fit properly and look right on the page.
• Photo Painting System – This has been enhanced to make it easier for photographers to create beautiful paintings from photos. There are new enhancements to Underpainting; which prepares a photo for cloning (see the image below), Auto-Painting Palette for transforming a photo to a painting by automatically applying random paint strokes, and Restoration Palette: a mechanism for touching up a painting manually with one of two special brushes. I found these enhancements fun to work with. To show how easy it is, this image was created in about 15 minutes. 
• Universal Mixer palette – This feature gives you more control over color selection when using Artists' Oil brushes, RealBristle brushes, or any other bristle type brush.
• Dodge and Burn tools – allow you to dodge or lighten overexposed areas of an image, and burn, darkening underexposed regions of an image.
• Photoshop Support – With Corel Painter X, the layer behavior is very similar to Adobe Photoshop, which now makes moving files between the two very simple. You can open Photoshop PSD files in Corel Painter X with layer masks, alpha channels, and layer sets maintained. This is something that, to me is very important.
• Printed User Guide – This is a 325 page in color, indexed user guide. It is in a large looped spiral bound format, so that it easily lays flat on the desk.
• Jeremy Sutton Training Videos – These are included with the purchase of Corel Painter X, and are from a well known Painter Master.
• Painter on the 'Net' tab in the welcome book that provides you to links to the Painter community, as well as online resources such as tutorials, tips and tricks, and special offers.
Added to all this is Universal Binary support which means that this will run on both types of Mac's; Intel- and PowerPC. There is a workspace manager that allows the sharing of customized workspaces. There is an enhanced color management system that retains setting between Corel Painter X sessions. Finally there is a new Secure Saving and Auto-Backup feature that gives more protection in case there is a power outage or system crash.
All in all Corel Painter X is to be a great product for the digital artist. It is fast for all the potential that is built in. From a photographer's perspective, I find that the features in Corel Painter X are useful, whether for adding touch up highlights, doing full paint conversions, or somewhere in between. While, there are many things that can be done easily, this is a complex program, and to get really good will take time and effort. That said, with the native file compatibility for Adobe Photoshop, I don't think that there is any limitation to what can be done with Corel Painter X.
Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ3 review
Posted on October 20, 2007 - Filed Under Cameras, Reviews | Leave a Comment
Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ3 digital camera review : The successor of the Lumix TZ1, the Panasonic Lumix TZ3, was introduced in January of the year 2007. Did the TZ1 impress us with its compact size and onboard 10x Leica zoom lens; the Panasonic TZ3 even exceeds its predecessor. Resolution went up to 7 Megapixels and even more important, the focal range, although staying the same with its 10x optical zoom, gained a wide angle. As a result, this compactcamera has a fine 28-280mm range, absolutely a good achievement. It means that Panasonic is one of few manufacturers to deliver a digital compactcamera with an optical zoom lens that is able to offer wide angle.
Panasonic Lumix camera assortment
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 has been available for a while now and is one of the top cameras of the Lumix assortment. A few years ago Panasonic created a path for their Lumix line at which digital photography plays an important role within the total assortment they are offering. As a result a clear line of cameras is available, from simple entry-level cameras to Megazoom cameras and in between the so-called Travel Zoom cameras fitting in the Panasonic TZ3. Panasonic is even offering some two digital SLR cameras with a new model that will be available by the end of 2007.
Panasonic Lumix TZ3 – MEGA O.I.S & Optical zoom
And although the Panasonic Lumix TZ3 is not one of the smallest compact cameras, it certainly has no bulky design either. The camera however might be a tad too large to be carried around in your shirt pocket. More important features are the optical zoom that I mentioned before and the presence of Panasonic’s renowned MEGA O.I.S. image stabilisation system. The latter is undoubtedly of great importance in combination with a large optical range. A fact that Panasonic already acknowledged in an early stadium. Striking is the fact that an electronics company like Panasonic, almost already considered these features as extremely important and that they are equipping their assortment with them. Unlike other well-known manufactures in the photo industry who still shrug their shoulders and equip only some of the compact camera models with a wide angle and an optical image stabilisation system.
Panasonic TZ3 camera review
The Panasonic Lumix DMC – TZ3 is one of the interesting cameras with which Panasonic distinguish themselves thanks to the specifications. On paper these specifications look very promising. Time to find out how they turn out in practice. Besides the standard review, Karin Brussaard, our underwater photography specialist took the Panasonic TZ3 underwater for testing. That review will be published soon. First the Panasonic Lumix TZ3 review…
Developing Native Eyes
Posted on October 19, 2007 - Filed Under News, Photo | Leave a Comment
Emaciated African babies with flies in their eyes. Indian women picking through earthquake rubble. Israelis and Palestinians throwing rocks. These are the images that Westerners are used to seeing from these countries — and in many ways they have lost the ability to see anything else.
Although these are only tiny slivers of these countries’ stories, they are often the only images available on wire services and in newspapers. The reasons for this are complicated, but one important contributor is the fact that those photos are almost always taken by Westerners, not only for Westerners.
The National Geographic Society is attempting to highlight and correct this disconnect with its All Roads Photography program, which held its fourth annual meeting last weekend at the society’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, in conjunction with its All Roads Film Festival.
“We’re creating an opportunity for people from all over the world to tell their own stories,” explained Chris Rainier, a National Geographic Fellow, renowned photographer, and head of the program.
Each year the All Roads board of directors chooses four photographers who are members of an indigenous or minority culture and are working to document their own country. The photographers are given a cash prize as well as cartloads of equipment and software from sponsors, which include Adobe, LiveBooks, Epson, Kingston, Lowepro, Manfrotto, and Olympus. But more importantly, they are brought to the United States and introduced to top editors, publishers, curators, and media sources around the country.
Although All Roads strives to introduce a Western audience to native eyes that would normally be overlooked, at least two of this year’s honorees are already known outside their own countries. Associated Press photographer Oded Balilty won a World Press Photo Award and a Pulitzer Prize this year for his iconic image of a woman resisting a phalanx of Israeli soldiers sent to remove her from her West Bank settlement.
Akintunde Akinleye became the first Nigerian to win a World Press Photo Award this year when he took first place in the Spot News Single category for his portrayal of a town in Nigeria where a gasoline fire killed nearly 300 in the hours it took emergency services to arrive. As Akinleye pointed out during the presentation of his photographs at a seminar on Saturday, Nigeria shares many problems with the rest of Africa, but they’re thrown into special relief by the incredible wealth a few Nigerians have acquired through the country’s rich oil supplies. “I just want to raise questions and discussion about why this should be so,” explained Akinleye, who shoots for Reuters.
All Roads photographer A Yin, on the other hand, is mostly a hit at home in China, where his images of Inner Mongolian nomadic tribes have been exhibited several times at Beijing’s Pingyao photo festival. Yin, who is Mongolian but was raised in a city far from the nomadic way of life, has been traveling with a traditional nomadic tribe for more than a decade, creating more than 200,000 images, which he develops and prints himself in a portable tent. Through a translator he spoke of the importance of documenting the nomads’ way of life before it is lost to urbanization and ecological decimation.
Altaf Quadri, who shoots for the European Pressphoto Agency, was “very upset” to learn that not only had his images from his ravaged home of Kashmir not made it to Western news outlets, but neither had any other images from the area. He was stunned that people from the United States were incredulous of his harrowing photos of the chaos that reigns in the long-suffering divided state between India and Pakistan. People had accused him of creating one-sided images that made the situation look worse than it was — rather than face the more obvious conclusion that they had been shielded from the true state of affairs by entrenched media blind spots.
In fact, exposing these young photographers to Western art buyers is only one half of the All Roads mission. It also encourages Western news sources to seek out and utilize native photographers like them.
Shahidul Alam, in his opening remarks at Saturday’s seminar and slideshow, spoke with frustration of an exhibition he saw recently in honor of the UN’s “Millennium Development Goals” and consisting of photos of “developing” countries taken entirely by Western photographers. When he asked the curator if he had considered including work by native photographers, he responded that he had, but that “they don’t have the eye.”
The work that followed by each of the All Roads photographers, and the passion with which they described their art, stood as a sharp contradiction to that outdated mentality.
Alam, who is an All Roads board member and head of the Drik Agency, even challenges the terms “developing” and “third world.” “I personally don’t intend to be third at anything,” he quipped, uncovering how pervasive and insidious Westerner’s misconceptions of that part of the world still are. Instead he has coined the term “majority world,” to describe the populations of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. And to help develop “the eye” in these places, he has been instrumental in establishing an agency, film festival, photo school, and lobbying arm, based in his home country of Bangladesh and online at the umbrella site majorityworld.com.
Saturday’s photography slideshow and seminar was the culmination of a busy week of travel for the four All Roads photographers, who stopped first in Los Angeles to meet with Andy Patrick, CEO and president of LiveBooks, which gives each photographer a deluxe website package and instructs him on setting it up. Patrick, who is a founding All Roads board member, also supports documentary photography through his own FiftyCrows NGO, from which several earlier All Roads photographers were drawn.
As a businessman, Patrick tries to convince the All Roads photographers about the importance of a few simple but often overlooked rules of business: a firm handshake, a concise pitch, and a business card to leave behind. Of course, as a website designer and provider, he also helps them understand that a good online portal is imperative to their continued success in a Western market.
But don’t think Patrick isn’t getting something back from these meetings. “When I’m around photographers of this ilk, I am in reverence, I’m humbled,” he said. “These are people who are connecting at a heart level with humanity; they are really trying to hold that mirror up to the rest of us so we can see ourselves and each other.”
While on the west coast, the All Roads troupe also attended the All Roads Film Festival in Los Angeles, presented at the LA Arts Center, toured FiftyCrows Gallery, and presented at the Aurora Forum at Stanford University. In D.C. on Friday morning they participated in an informal session in National Geographic’s grandiose board room to meet with National Geographic and German Geo photo editors, Reid Callahan, director of the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop, representatives from the sponsor companies, and members of the media.
During the weekend, the photographers also got to know many of the filmmakers attending the All Roads Film Festival, which similarly supports films by and about indigenous and minority cultures. At Friday night’s awards ceremony, the four photographers and two audience-favorite filmmakers were presented with awards of ash baskets contracted from New England’s disappearing Abenaki tribe, the subject of one of the film festival’s documentaries.
Camera Review: Samsung NV11
Posted on October 18, 2007 - Filed Under Digital, Photo, Reviews | Leave a Comment
Sleek, sexy, stylish… not words you often hear when talking about compact digital cameras. But hear them you will if you take Samsung’s NV11 out to take pictures. Samsung’s NV line certainly looks good, and the NV11 looks just as stylish as its siblings in the line. How do the images that come out of it compare to its flashy exterior?
Let’s take a look.
The NV11 keeps the 10.1-megapixel output of its NV10 predecessor, with a new lens with extended zoom range and a fast f/2.8 maximum aperture. The $279 (street) compact features a 5X Schneider-Kreuznach zoom lens (38-190mm 35mm equivalent), ISO speeds from 80 to 1600, shutter speeds from 15 to 1/2000th sec., a 2.7-inch, 230,000-dot LCD display, and a stainless steel black-finish exterior. There are the usual Auto, Program, and scene modes for exposure control, as well as manual control with a few restrictions. Movie recording is quite capable at 30fps in VGA-size (640 x 480 px), saved in MPEG-4 format.
Pentax V10
Posted on October 18, 2007 - Filed Under Art, News, Photo | Leave a Comment
The Pentax V10 is a new compact digital camera with an 8 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom lens and 3 inch LCD monitor. The V10 has an an ultra-slim, high quality aluminum alloy body of just ¾ of an inch (19mm) thick. Auto Picture mode lets the Pentax V10 automatically determine the shooting conditions for Landscape, Portrait, Night Scene, and Normal modes The Pentax V10 will ship in November for $249.95.
Pentax USA Press Release
PENTAX INTRODUCES SUPER-SLIM OPTIO V10 WITH 3 INCH MONITOR
GOLDEN, CO. (October 1, 2007)…PENTAX Imaging Company have announced the Pentax V10, an ultra-slim compact digital camera equipped with a large 3.0 inch LCD monitor for enhanced usability and easy viewing. The Pentax V10 features 8 megapixels, a 3X optical zoom and easy operations in a slim, stylish, affordable body.
The Optio A40 will ship in October 2007 for US $299.95 and the Pentax V10 will ship in November for $249.95.
PENTAX Imaging Company is an innovative leader in the production of digital SLR and compact cameras, lenses, flash units, binoculars, scopes, eyepieces and mobile printers and scanners. For more than 80 years, PENTAX technology has developed durable, reliable products that meet the needs of consumers and businesses. With headquarters in Golden, Colorado, PENTAX Imaging Company is a division of PENTAX of America, Inc.
PENTAX OPTIO V10 FACT SHEET
An ultra-slim body with a sophisticated texture
An exclusive slim battery and a smaller circuit board allow an ultra-slim, high quality aluminum alloy body of just ¾ of an inch (19mm) thick.
Large, 3.0 inch easy viewable LCD monitor
The Optio V10 comes with a high resolution 3.0 inch LCD monitor with approximately 230,000 pixels that enables images and the text to be displayed largely and clearly. The LCD monitor has a wide viewing angle of 170 degrees from all directions, making it easy to confirm images, even when looking at the screen diagonally.
3X optical zoom and 4X digital zoom for a maximum of 12X magnification
The Optio V10 features a 3X optical zoom lens equivalent to 36-108mm in the 35mm format, which is ideal for a broad spectrum of subjects from landscapes to portraits. Combined with 4X digital zoom, the zoom equals 12X zoom capability.
High resolution images
The Optio V10’s 8.0 effective megapixels and high performance PENTAX lens precisely captures images down to the finest details to deliver high resolution photos that look sharp even at large magnifications.
Digital SR (Shake Reduction)
Digital SR (Shake Reduction) mode automatically adjusts sensitivity as high as the ultra-high sensitivity of ISO 3200 according to the brightness of the subjects, and effectively reduces camera shake and subject blurring when photographing still images.
Face Recognition AF&AE function for portrait photography
The Face Recognition AF&AE* function automatically detects and focuses on faces, regardless of where the people appear in the photo frame.
*Available when the photography mode is “Portrait
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W80 Review at DP Review
Posted on October 17, 2007 - Filed Under Digital, Ratings, Reviews, Tips | Leave a Comment
DP Review has reviewed the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W80 and gives it a rating of ‘above average’. They write – ‘So then, the W80 is a camera that is capable of producing surprisingly good results in good light at ISO 100 and is perfectly usable at ISO 400-800 in low light if you don’t want big prints (the church interiors in the samples gallery, for example, are better than I expected), but a camera that falls down in what I consider to be one of the most important areas for a camera such as this; pictures of people indoors in low light – with or without flash. If you’re after a ‘walk around’ camera for scenery then it’s not a bad buy for $200-ish, but if you actually have friends and family, and are still awake taking pictures after sunset it’s hard to wholeheartedly recommend it when there are so many better alternatives out there.’
Canon to exhibit two new telephoto lenses under development at Photoplus Expo
Posted on October 16, 2007 - Filed Under Digital, Photo | Leave a Comment
Canon today announced the development of two all-new telephoto lenses for use with its EOS SLR cameras: the EF200mm f/2L IS USM/ and the EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM/. The Company will exhibit prototypes of the new lenses at PhotoPlus Expo, taking place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, October 18 to 20.
The new Canon EF200mm f/2L IS USM and EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM, both of which are L (luxury)-series lenses incorporating a high-performance Image Stabilizer, feature optical systems utilizing special optical materials such as fluorite to correct chromatic aberrations, making possible high-resolution, high-contrast shooting performance.
Canon EF200mm f/2L IS USM
The Canon EF200mm f/2L IS USM, targeting users who seek a brighter lens for portraiture and indoor sports photography, realizes a large aperture of f/2. The EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM, expected to deliver telephoto performance surpassing the current top-of-the-line EF600mm f/4L IS USM super telephoto lens, is being developed in response to requests from users working in the fields of sports and news photography who are looking for a high-performance lens that offers a longer focal length.
Canon EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM
“These new lenses demonstrate that Canon is continuing to respond actively and flexibly to the wide-ranging needs of professional and advanced amateur users, with the aim of contributing to the expansion of photographic possibilities for SLR cameras,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A. “Canon’s EOS System is the premier brand of Digital SLR cameras, and we take great pride in offering the world’s largest selection of interchangeable autofocus lenses.”
As these new lenses are currently under development, pricing and availability information is not yet available.
Toshiba TLP-XC2000U projector with document camera
Posted on October 16, 2007 - Filed Under Digital | Leave a Comment
Toshiba TLP-XC2000U projector with document camera : Toshiba’s Digital Products Division, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems announced the release of the TLP-XC2000U LCD projector with integrated, advanced CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) document camera. The projector’s high-quality document camera features a 3-mega pixel resolution, 16X zoom and built-in LED light for capturing 3D images, fine text and microscopic details for big-screen display for a value-price of $1,099 (ESUP). The Toshiba TLP-XC2000U projector with document camera is HDTV/DTV compatible and the lamp life can be extended up to 3,000 hours in Eco-Mode for energy and cost savings.
“The Toshiba TLP-XC2000U projector with advanced, integrated document camera will capture any audience’s attention and give presenters and educators the ability to show the latest products, archeological samples or a page from a textbook instantly,
Olympus E510 review
Posted on October 15, 2007 - Filed Under Cameras, Reviews | Leave a Comment
Olympus E-510 digital SLR camera review : Olympus is making waves with the digital SLR cameras. The models are quickly being improved and renewed. We still await the successor of the E-1 (Olympus E-3), but the Olympus E-510 D-SLR gives us a taste of what is to come. The Olympus E-510 is the successor of the E-500, which was released more than a year and a half ago. The changes made to the E-400 in the E-410 were minimal, but the Olympus E-510 digital SLR is truly different from its predecessor.
Olympus E510 DSLR – LiveMOS image sensor
An important change is the image sensor. Olympus uses a Panasonic sensor for the E-510 instead of a Kodak sensor. The CCD has been replaced with the LiveMOS. As the name suggests, the Olympus E-510 also has Live View, just like other Olympus models have. Live View is now definitively the future of the DSLR. Not only Olympus and Panasonic are applying this, but also Canon and Nikon have included Live View in their new DSLR products. At first Olympus and Panasonic were looked upon with pity when they first showed the Live View, but quickly it appeared to be a consumer advantage.
Olympus E-510 – 10 Megapixel reflex camera
Next to the new sensor the amount of pixels has increased. The Olympus E-510 now has ten Megapixels, the same amount as the E-410. This amount of resolution allows for large prints. The signal is processed differently than in the E-410, though, so that we can expect different results. Thanks to the SuperSonic Wave Filter placed in front of the sensor, you do not longer have to worry about having to retouch a lot of dust spots. This is great, because with ten Megapixels you can see almost every detail. The filter in front of the sensor shakes and the sensor itself can move as well. This has allowed Olympus to integrate a physical image stabilizer. You do not need special lenses in order to prevent blur from camera shake.
Olympus Evolt E-510 – Compact camera body
The dimensions have hardly changed at all. The camera is a bit wider and a bit thinner and longer as well. The prism housing has remained. The camera still has a lot in common with the legendary Olympus OM series. It is compact, yet stylish. The compact body is partly possible because of the FourThirds System, of which Olympus is one of the pioneers. The sensor format is half the size of a 35 mm film. The focal range has a factor of 2, so that a 14-45 mm lens behaves as a 28-90 mm lens would (on a 35 mm camera). The whole system is easy to carry with you.
Olympus E510 D-SLR review
The FourThirds System keeps expanding, not only with new cameras, but with new lenses, including a few real top models. While we tested the Olympus Evolt E-510, we also had a few lenses at our disposal, including the Zuiko Digital 7-14mm 1:4 ED. It is an ultra wide-angle lens, but not quite a fisheye. On a 35 mm camera it would be equivalent to a 14-28 mm lens. This is a very interesting range for photojournalists and landscape photographers. We have tested an Olympus E-510 and a few lenses for a while in our test lab. The results can be read in the next Olympus E-510 review.
