Just Posted! Canon Powershot G10 review
Posted on November 26, 2008 - Filed Under Digital, Photo, Reviews | Leave a Comment
Just Posted: Our Canon Powershot G10 review. The Canon ‘G’ series has been the most consistently photographer-focused family of compact cameras on the market. This, the 8th iteration of that dynasty includes a 14.7MP sensor and a 28-140mm zoom, offering serious flexibility. The family faces stiffer than ever competition though – from the budget DSLRs that now undercut it on price and from some compelling RAW-shooting compact peers that fancy a tilt at its ‘king of compacts’ crown. Is the ruggedly built G10 tough enough to weather such a grueling environment? Find out in our full review.
The Rosetta Stone
Posted on November 25, 2008 - Filed Under Photo | Leave a Comment
“Not popular with some of the locals in this beautiful riverside location, this sign was annotated in languages as yet undiscovered by academia. Port Meadow, Oxford, UK“. Taken by Rich
Source: planetearthdailyphoto.blogspot.com
Interwoven
Posted on November 18, 2008 - Filed Under Photo | Leave a Comment
“One of the rare spirit houses painted totally white. Thai people have a devoted respect for the shrines that, they strongly believe, protect them from reincarnated lives with harmful intentions”. Taken by Quimdoporto
Source: planetearthdailyphoto.blogspot.com
Sigma buys sensor developer Foveon
Posted on November 17, 2008 - Filed Under Digital, Photo, Reviews | Leave a Comment
Camera and lens maker Sigma has bought Foveon, the sensor technology company that develops the sensors it uses. Foveon’s technology uses three photosensitive layers to detect red, green and blue light at each pixel. Sigma says owning the company will allow the development of new types of sensors and improved integration between the sensors and its lenses.
Press release:
Kawasaki, Japan, November 11th, 2008 – Sigma Corporation (Location: Kawasaki, Japan) has acquired 100% of the stock of the company that developed the original three-layer image sensor, Foveon Inc. Foveon will continue its sensor development operations in San Jose, CA, USA.
Foveon made history when it developed and patented the world’s first three-layer image capture technology, placing a stack of RGB pixels in each pixel location. As a result, Foveon sensors detect all three primary colors in every pixel location, producing images that are sharper and have significantly reduced image artifacts compared to competing image sensor technologies.
Since Sigma first worked with Foveon in 2000, both companies have enjoyed a cooperative working relationship directed toward developing highly-efficient DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras and compact digital cameras which take the best advantage of the X3 sensor technology. Sigma Corporation has employed Foveon’s technology in its entire digital camera line, producing images which are acclaimed by both amateur and professional photographers all over the world for their high resolution and for their three-dimensional look. Both the latest DLSR, the SD14, and the compact DP1 camera – which packs the full spec of a DSLR into a compact camera – have met with similar acclaim. Two additional Sigma camera products based on Foveon’s image sensor technology have been announced for 2009.
The acquisition of Foveon will not only enhance the development of new types of image sensors for high quality digital cameras, but will also create a synergistic effect with Sigma’s camera and lens business by improving the integration between the camera and sensor. This will result in camera products which will uniquely meet the widely ranging functional and image quality needs of demanding photographers.
As the digital camera market continues to expand, Foveon and Sigma will continuously evolve and improve the X3 sensor technology, thus expanding the company’s photography-related business. In addition, Sigma remains firmly committed to preserving and nurturing the culture of photography.
Goodbye Digital Railroad
Posted on November 16, 2008 - Filed Under News, Photo | Leave a Comment
Diablo Management has announced today that it will be wiping the drives of Digital Railroad and auctioning the hardware after potential buyers for the troubled company’s assets fell through. As you might expect, no photo is available to illustrate this story. For more info, visit the Stock Artist Alliance, NPPA, and Diablo Management.
Software Review: Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0
Posted on November 14, 2008 - Filed Under Culture, Photo | Leave a Comment
Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0 is the latest release of the consumer-based video editing program from Adobe. It is a scaled down version of their professional level package Premiere Pro and can be purchased as a bundle with Adobe Photoshop Elements. If you were wondering what happened with versions five and six (the last version being four) Adobe decided to bump it up to match with Photoshop Elements 7.
What do you need to run Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0? Currently it is only available on Windows, where you need 1.8 GHz (3 GHz for HDV or Blu-Ray, Dual-Core processor required for AVCHD) or better machine with 1 GB of RAM, a Mouse, a 16-bit color display with 1024×768 resolution at 96DPI or less, a DirectX 9.0 compatible display adapter/driver, QuickTime 7 software, a DVD-ROM drive (compatible burner required to burn DVD) or Blu-Ray, and around 4.5 GB hard disk space available.
So what is new with this version of Adobe Premiere Elements?
• InstantMovie – will let you create movies with little or no effort. Using creative techniques from Hollywood directors, you just choose a theme and InstantMovie edits your clips together with coordinated music, titles, effects, and transitions. You can then customize the final result if you want.
• Videomerge – will let you put your subject into a new setting. By filming your subject on a solid color background, the Videomerge technology will extract your moving subject from the background and drop it into a new setting.
• SmartSound – will let you energize your movie with a variety of soundtracks that automatically adjust to match the length of your movie. Adobe Premiere Elements will detect the tempo of the music and synchs the beginning and end of each scene with the beats.
• InstantMovie & Slideshow Themes – includes fairy tale, secret agent, music video, and extreme sports.
• Edit in AVCHD – lets you import and edit video from the latest AVCHD camcorders. You can edit and view your movie with drag-and-drop ease in the large monitor window where you can trim and split clips, drop filters and effects right on a frame. You can even restore shaky footage with the Image Stabilizer filter.
• Analyze Footage – automatically for quality and interest as well as apply Smart Tags. This will let you quickly find your most interesting, highest quality clips.
Samsung Techwin to spin-out camera division
Posted on November 13, 2008 - Filed Under Digital, Photo, Reviews | Leave a Comment
Samsung Techwin, the Korean manufacturer, plans to separate out its camera division into an individual entity (under the same ownership), according to news agency Reuters. Samsung Techwin is part of the Samsung Group’s machinery and heavy industry division and makes mobile artillery and gas turbines, as well as digital cameras. Tentatively named Samsung Digital Imaging, the new company will have a separate listing from Feb. 1, 2009, allowing its management to concentrate on the fast-moving consumer market into which its products are sold, without also having to also consider sales of aircraft engines.
Victory
Posted on November 9, 2008 - Filed Under Photo | Leave a Comment
“Manhattan celebrates the election of President Obama.
I’ve seen the Tompkins Square riots, way too many New Years Eves, and the 2003 blackout which were all pretty wild, but this was something else. For a couple of hours people in Manhattan were cheering, dancing, running…It was like years of contained anger busting out in exchange for hope and joy. Here is a video.
(New York, NY, November 4, 2008)”. Taken by Irena Kittenclaw
FireWire 800 Added to Western Digital My Passport Studio Drive
Posted on November 9, 2008 - Filed Under News, Photo | Leave a Comment
Western Digital’s My Passport Studio portable drives now offer FireWire800 in addition to FireWire400 and USB 2.0 interfaces. Although the drives are formatted for the Mac, and can be hooked up via FireWire800 to the new Apple MacBook Pro, they can be reformatted for PC’s. The drives are compatible with Apple Time Machine and will be featured in Apple stores during the upcoming holiday season.
My Passport Studio portable hard drives weigh less than 7 ounces, are powered by FireWire or USB ports, and feature an illuminated capacity gauge that indicates remaining hard drive space.
Available in capacities up to 500GB, the My Passport Studio drive has an MSRP of $249.99 for the 500GB model; $229.99 for the 400GB version; $199.99 for a 320GB drive and can be purchased direct from www.shopwd.com
Book Review – Photo Workshop: Exposure by Jeff Wignall
Posted on November 7, 2008 - Filed Under Culture, Photo | Leave a Comment
Jeff Wignall compares extracting good exposures in your photography to befriending a wild-born kitten. While the kitten (and image) may be beautiful to look at, you just aren’t sure how best to catch it. You certainly won't get as many scratches on your arms from trying to capture a photo, but it can be equally as frustrating when thing don't turn out as you would like
The goal of Photo Workshop: Exposure is to show you how to approach capturing the shot you want; that singular vision of the world that you have, and share that vision with others. It comprises 299 pages divided into 11 chapters.
Chapter 1, "The Art of Exposure," explains how the results from a great exposure are far greater than the sum of its steps. A good capture results from the most basic of tools and techniques, and is the product of routine technical choices. Here you will see exactly what exposure is, and what you need to do to take charge of your exposures. Chapter 2, "Exposure Controls: A Primer," looks at what it takes to get a great exposure using any kind of camera. In this chapter you will look at the relationship between ISO, Aperture, and shutter speed, and how they affect exposure
Chapter 3, "Measure the Light," explains that irrespective of any equipment that you are using, the most important item in getting a great shot is knowing precisely how much light is in the scene. This chapter shows you how to measure the light. Here you see how light meters work, how spot metering works, how to work with handheld meters, and what situations can fool meters. You will also learn about the Zone System. Chapter 4, "Lens Apertures and Depth of Field," examines how the change in aperture also results in the change in the depth of field, and it also looks at the creative power of depth of field.
Chapter 5, "Shutter Speed and Subject Motion," describes that like the use of aperture to control the amount of light entering into the camera, you can also use the speed of the shutter to control the amount of light. Where the aperture controls the depth of field, you will learn how shutter speed controls the interpretation of motion. Chapter 6, "Training Wheels Off: Going Beyond Green Mode," takes you away from the automatic exposure modes, and looks at speciality modes like aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and full manual modes.
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