From Scott’s Website:
“That’s right folks, it’s time for this year’s ultimate holiday guide to the nothing but the coolest photography and Photoshop gear for the photo freak on your holiday list.”
During some free time from work David (photographer) and Florent (video editor forNihonCar.com and ManualGear.com), put together a STUNNING Canon 5D Mark II video demo. We noticed it was made without technical support, only two little hands to carry the camera, and a MacBook Pro for video editing.
One word, congrats!!!!!!
Our setting were pretty simple, we used a Canon 5D Mark II, with the following Canon lenses:
14mm f2.8L II
17-40mm f4L
50mm f1.4
90mm TS-E f2.8
135mm f2.0L
…along with your average MacBookPro 15″ (old gen). No color FX on the video.
Check out these photo’s on Flickr from Photographer David Katz. It gives an insight on the way Barack and his relatives spend their time on election night. Some really cool shots!
Adobe has made available Creative Suite 4 themed wallpapers and screen savers and you can download them here.
Nikon has released its D300 firmware update (which was pulled earlier today). The A and B firmware updates to version 1.10 are available on its support site.
Features
The update features a number of refinements and fixes, including:
• The Highlights playback option has been moved from Display Mode > Basic photo info > Highlights in the playback menu to Display mode > Detailed photo info > Highlights.
• The size and color of “Demo” displayed in the monitor with playback when No memory card? in the Custom Settings has been set to Enable Release have been modified.
• The range of settings available for ISO sensitivity settings > ISO sensitivity auto control > Minimum shutter speed in the shooting menu has been increased from 1/250-1s to 1/4000-1s.
• When shooting in hand-held live view mode and the frame is magnified prior to autofocusing, operation has been modified so that display returns to the magnified display rather then the full frame display.
• Images captured with Rotate tall, in the playback menu, set to On, are not automatically rotated for display immediately after capture (image review).
• A Copyright information has been added to the setup menu. When Copyright information is enabled, the copyright symbol (©) is shown in the shooting info display. (more…)
Click here for some free downloadable goodies
Just Posted! Canon EOS 50D in-depth review. Canon’s EOS 50D is essentially a 40D body with a newly-developed 15 megapixel sensor, a 3.0 inch VGA screen and Canon’s updated imaging processor, the DIGIC 4. Canon claims the new sensor’s design (new manufacturing processes, redesigned photo diodes and micro lenses) means that despite the higher resolution image noise has improved. As you might imagine, we’ve had a closer look at this. Find out more after the link. Review now updated using the final version of Adobe Camera Raw 4.6.
Click here to read the full review
Source: dpreview.com
I really like his approuch
Here are some items I discovered and find news worthy:
(the ones in red I like the most)
“* You can hide all windows, revealing only what’s on the computer desktop, with one keystroke: hit the Windows key and “D” simultaneously in Windows, or press F11 on Macs (on recent Mac laptops, Command+F3; Command is the key with the cloverleaf logo). That’s great when you want examine or delete something you’ve just downloaded to the desktop, for example. Press the keystroke again to return to what you were doing.
* You can enlarge the text on any Web page. In Windows, press Ctrl and the plus or minus keys (for bigger or smaller fonts); on the Mac, it’s the Command key and plus or minus.
* You can also enlarge the entire Web page or document by pressing the Control key as you turn the wheel on top of your mouse. On the Mac, this enlarges the entire screen image.
* The number of megapixels does not determine a camera’s picture quality; that’s a marketing myth. The sensor size is far more important. (Use Google to find it. For example, search for “sensor size Nikon D90.”)
* When someone sends you some shocking e-mail and suggests that you pass it on, don’t. At least not until you’ve first confirmed its truth at snopes.com, the Internet’s authority on e-mailed myths. This includes get-rich schemes, Microsoft/AOL cash giveaways, and–especially lately–nutty scare-tactic messages about our Presidential candidates.
* Forcing the camera’s flash to go off prevents silhouetted, too-dark faces when you’re outdoors.
* When you’re searching for something on the Web using, say, Google, put quotes around phrases that must be searched together. For example, if you put quotes around “electric curtains,” Google won’t waste your time finding one set of Web pages containing the word “electric” and another set containing the word “curtains.”
* You can use Google to do math for you. Just type the equation, like 23*7+15/3=, and hit Enter.
* Google is also a units-of-measurement and currency converter. Type “teaspoons in 1.3 gallons,” for example, or “euros in 17 dollars.” Click Search to see the answer.
* You generally can’t send someone more than a couple of full-size digital photos as an e-mail attachment; those files are too big, and they’ll bounce back to you. (Instead, use iPhoto or Picasa–photo-organizing programs that can automatically scale down photos in the process of e-mailing them.)
* Whatever technology you buy today will be obsolete soon, but you can avoid heartache by learning the cycles. New iPods come out every September. New digital cameras come out in February and October.
* You don’t have to type “http://www” into your Web browser. Just type the remainder: “nytimes.com” or “dilbert.com,” for example. (In the Safari browser, you can even leave off the “.com” part.)
* On the iPhone, hit the Space bar twice at the end of a sentence. You get a period, a space, and a capitalized letter at the beginning of the next word.”
Nice Stuff David!
David’s Tech Blog runs @ the New York Times
Design across media with Adobe Creative Suite 4
Adobe has lifted the lid on Creative Suite 4, the latest version of its huge design and production suite. Of most interest to photographers will of course be Photoshop CS4, which brings some interface changes (tabbed windows) as well as 64-bit Windows support and OpenGL support to use graphics cards to speed up operations (and provide nifty zoom and rotation tools) and a new non-modal approach to adjustment layers. We’ve been using Photoshop CS4 in Beta form since May and will bring you more extensive coverage of all the new features once Photokina is behind us.
Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 delivers tightly integrated software and services that measurably improve productivity and enable you to produce richly expressive work in print, web, interactive, video, audio, and mobile.
Cologne, Germany, September 23rd , 2008 － Pretec, creator of the highest capacity CompactFlash card in the world (48GB) and the fastest CF card in the world (333X) will demonstrate even higher capacities including a 64GB CF card, in the Leaf booth (West Hall 4.2, B009) and CFA (Hall 5.1, G-019) at Photokina 2008.
Continuing the revolution in the field of flash memory card speed and capacity, Pretec today releases 64GB and 100GB, 233X CF cards with access speed of up to 35MB/s, overtaking the Pretec 48GB CF card, the previous world’s record holder for highest capacity CF card; and super high speed 333X 32GB and 50GB CF cards capable of running up to 50 MB per second of Read/Write speed, the highest speed CF card in the world.
Photokina 2008: SanDisk has today introduced new Compact Flash cards which offer increased storage capacity and faster read/write speeds. The Extreme III CompactFlash card now comes in a 32GB version with a speed of 30MB/s, and the Extreme IV CompactFlash card now comes in a 16GB version with a speed of 45 MB/s. In addition, the rest of the Extreme IV range has been upgraded to a read/write speed of 45MB/s.
Photokina 2008: Lensbaby has introduced three new lenses for selective focusing, and has named them the Composer, the Muse and the Control Freak. The Muse and Control Freak replace the current Lensbaby Original, 2.0 and 3G lenses. The Composer is first of its kind and is based on a ball and socket assembly, offering greater precision and ease of use. All the lenses feature a new Optic Swap System allowing the user to choose from four interchangeable optics (double glass, single glass, plastic and Pinhole).
Wow, great specs from a kick-butt camera!! I Allready love this Cam!!
Back in August 2005 Canon ‘defined a new DSLR category’ (their words) with the EOS 5D. Unlike any previous ‘full frame’ sensor camera, the 5D was the first with a compact body (i.e. not having an integral vertical grip) and has since then proved to be very popular, perhaps because if you wanted a full frame DSLR to use with your Canon lenses and you didn’t want the chunky EOS-1D style body then the EOS 5D has been your only choice. Three years on and two competitors have turned up in the shape of the Nikon D700 and Sony DSLR-A900, and Canon clearly believes it’s time for a refresh.
So here is the 5D Mark II, which punches high in terms of both resolution and features, headlining: 21 megapixels, 1080p video, 3.0″ VGA LCD, Live view, higher capacity battery. In other words, a camera that aims to leapfrog both its direct rivals, either in terms of resolution (in the case of the D700) or features (in the case of the DSLR-A900). Full detail below.
Key features / improvements
