For a lot of people this is the holy grail of 24mm lenses. But this particular reviewer is not so impressed:
"If a lens belongs to the Luxury series and we have to pay around 1700 $ for it is difficult to accept the fact that it might have some serious slip-ups. Unfortunately the EF 24 mm f/1.4L USM II didn’t manage to avoid them. The vignetting is
Poor Kodak, almost never in the news for a positive thing lately. But between lawsuits and closed factories, this one takes the price:
"(i) You grant to Kodak, and others with Kodak's consent, the right to edit, copy, distribute, publish, display and otherwise use your Contribution for purposes of the KODAK Moments program, without attribution, consideration or compensation to you, the photographer, your successors or
Let's hope that Hoya realises there's still a great potential in Pentax. From the Amateur Photographer website:
"Sales of Pentax DSLRs rose substantially in the three months to 31 March, helping Pentax turn an operating loss of a year ago into a
The camera that should have been the 60D?
"The combination of a cropped sensor and no image stabilization means that your video will probably be pretty shaky. I’d recommend picking up a
A bit sluggish they say?
I think that the Micro Four Thirds standard is finally getting to be where it wants to be, and it's a good thing too, since the competition is heating up.
A nice introduction to Lightroom (using ver 3 beta 2) by Ian Burley:
"You can say goodbye to the laborious and repetitive process of finding an image on your computer, finding the application you want to use to edit your image with, opening it, loading your image, editing, and then saving your image, being careful not to accidentally over-write the original."
Link
Bhautik Joshi Guides us through a simple but very fun DIY project:
"Built using a fisheye peephole as the main lens element and a decapitated soda can as the lens body (!), this attaches directly to my SLR camera. For well under US$20, I ended up with a lens that has nearly a 180-degree field-of-view, adjustable focus, a canon EOS mount, and due to it's stylish
While both cameras may be a little long in the tooth (especially the Sony), they are now at a very attractive priceponit, and they both remain very capable cameras:
"Comparing The Auto Focus- For this article I went ahead and bought a Tamron 70-300mm LD 1:2 macro so that I could compare both cameras with
Scotte promises to give us the facts, or most of them:
"Q. As a photographer what is the most compelling reason to consider an upgrade from CS4 to CS5?
A. That’s a tough one, because it will be different for different photographers. I think a lot of folks will naturally want it to create HDR images, but I
Photographers painting? What has this world come to?
"I’ve wanted to paint for years, but have never had the talent with a physical paint brush. I’ve tried various software solutions to paint digitally and never have they done what I want. Usually painting effects in digital imaging software come out more as cheesy filters, routinely and uniformly
There's a rain of cs5 previews and such falling upon us, this is the most "hands on" so far:
"Although the result is not perfect, it's remarkably close. In fact I was originally convinced that this picture would be a perfect example of how content ware fill would fail miserably. How wrong I was in this case."
From a photographers (and not only) standpoint, this release is simply epic, both for the good guys ANd the bad ones :)
Adobe Press Release
Adobe Launches Photo shop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended
Oh noes, poor Google, not again:
Press Release:
Philadelphia, PA… The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), joined by the Graphic Artists Guild, the Picture Archive Council of America
Samsung got a bit late to the mirrorless party, but they managed to squeeze a full APS-C sensor into a body roughly the size of the Panasonic GH1:
"One of the most impressive things about the NX10 is its image quality. In general terms, the camera makes a really good job of exposure, white balance and color rendition, meaning that most of the key elements are in place for great photos. The images are perhaps a little under-sharpened
Canon Press Release:
Canon has announced the launch of its enhanced Canon Professional Services (CPS) programme - developed following consultation with the CPS community - that now offers an even more extensive after-sales support system for professional photographers and videographers.
Just another interim step towards the much anticipated 3.0 release. This is new:
Canon EOS 550D (Digital Rebel T2i/ EOS Kiss X4 Digital)
Kodak Z981
Leaf Aptus-II 8
Leaf Aptus-II 10R
Mamiya DM40
Olympus E-PL1
Panasonic G2
Panasonic G10
Sony A450
Lightroom 2.7 also fixes a slideshow playback bug on Windows could cause Lightroom and/or the computer to crash.
Lightroom 2.7 camera raw cache limit has been raised to 200GB.
Camera Raw 5.7 includes an updated demosaic algorithm designed to provide compatibility with settings applied in Lightroom 3
A very interesting shoot-out, with some unpredictable results:
"It's a widely held belief that in low light the 5D trounces the GH1. But it is simply not the case. In fact the GH1 often matches or produces a punchier image, especially at ISO 800 - and it's not even much nosier, usually."
Link
Here's another lens guide by CameraLabs, this time for the Sony Alpha (Minolta for us old people) mount:
"Anyone shooting action or working in low light will also appreciate a lens with a larger aperture, indicated by a small f-number, such as f2.8. These may make the lens bigger, heavier and more expensive than models with average apertures, but have the major advantage of gathering more light. This allows
The photographers rights topic has lately become a hot issue worldwide. Bob Atkins sheds some light on the U.S side of things:
"In general when dealing with the police, the best advice to minimize your problems is to be polite and cooperative (at least up to a point). If you're loud, argumentative, combative and refuse to assist in any way, you may be in the right, but you'll likely be arrested for something and have to spend a time and
I like user reviews that venture a bit away from the beaten path. Added bonus, some garneshing of engrish. How about lenses that "hunt like fanatics"?:
"Unfortunately, GF1's focusing speed becomes a bit sluggish in low light situations with the pancake and the kit zoom lenses alike. Moreover, although the manuals say that the two lenses afford a closest focusing distance of 0.2m and 0.3m respectively, the lenses hunt like fanatics when the subjects are around
"Comparing" is a tad harch, its more like an apples to oranges and Klingons to Jedi thing:
"This article compares all the affordable weather-sealed DSLR cameras in production. These DSLRs are the Canon EOS 7D, the Nikon D300S, the Olympus E-3, the Pentax K-7, the Pentax K20D and the Pentax K200D. The definition of weather-sealed varies between models but does not mean waterproof, so all DSLRs
And a 5D MkII thrown in for good comparison. Watching the 1D MkIV getting the spank of its life is a painful experience to say the least:
"Don’t get dismayed Canon fans, compared to most cameras, the EOS 1D Mark IV does a very respectable job at high ISO, however the Nikon D3s just takes things to a whole new level, I hate to encourage you to skip past the fine print, but check out the ISO 1600 samples from the D3s, they look a lot like ISO
Personally i don't choose lenses, they choose me :) If YOU are not so lucky, maybe this article will shine a light:
"Canon’s EF-S 10-22mm USM is one of the best quality ultra-wide-angle lenses in its range. As an EF-S model, it will only work on cropped-bodies, but the equivalent range of 16-35mm is ideal for capturing expansive landscapes, cramped interiors, large buildings or big group shots. The USM focusing is also
Some of these "best blahblah" writeups gets pretty trivial sometimes, except when dollars comes to play. How about, "best under $600, or even $300"?
"But suppose even $600 is too much to pay for a lens, what can you get for under $300 (includes some discontinued lenses at typical used prices). Note that some prices may have crept up a little since the database was last updated which is why I say under around $300"
Well, probably not, those new Polaroids seem just as bulky as the old ones. In any case, it's good to have old good old Polaroid back in the newsroom:
LAS VEGAS - 2010 International CES - January 5, 2010 - PLR IP Holdings, LLC, owners of the Polaroid™ brand, today announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Lady Gaga, who will serve as creative director for a specialty line of Polaroid Imaging products. The partnership brings together one of the
What does a Photojournalist, a butcher, and a garbage collector all have in common? According to CareeerCast.com these are among the worst imaginable jobs of 2009. The criteria used was environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress. More info about the methodology used,
here
(funny) story from AP:
"MOUNT HOLLY — A New Jersey wedding photographer who defrauded dozens of newly married couples is headed to state prison.
Jack Holton, who operated photography businesses in Medford, Cinnaminson and Palmyra at various times, usually under the names "Weddings Unlimited" or "Renaissance Photography," had pleaded guilty to a theft charge last year.
Canon has improved almost every aspect of this classic, including costruction, optical elements, and IS engine. The price has worsened though:
"Improving upon one of the most celebrated lenses in the Canon EF line is no easy feat, but Canon has done just that. The all-new EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM increases the speed, performance and optical quality of the EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM while maintaining all of the characteristics that have made it a
This Korean company is an up and coming force among the 3rd party lens producers. While mostly obscure, some of their lenses have received some favourable attention among photographers. Their entries into the 4/3 arena are interesting choices, as oposed to their hellish beehives of websites:
"Samyang company has informed that new lenses: Samyang 8mm f3.5 fish-eye and Samyang 85mm f1.4 with a mount for Olympus 4/3, have been released to
It may not be feature-complete, or even very stable, but damn, Bibblelabs got away with it just in time.This handy Press-Release was prepared for the occasion:
"Blazing Fast Photographic Workflow Including Complete Selective Editing, Photo Organization Tools, and RAW support for all the latest dSLR’s