Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Archives for April 2008

Free Links Friday

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Below are some of the best photography links from other sites that I came across this week.  Enjoy!

Hacks claim to ‘liberate’ Canon shooting options from Crave – The CHDK (Canon Hacker’s Development Kit) is an open-source software that creates more shooting options (RAW image capture) and controls (max shutter speed of 1/60,000) for your Canon point-and-shoot that uses the DIGIC II and III processor. Developers claim that the camera’s hardware is able to support many more functions but is being held back by the original firmware.

Tech Tips April 2008 – Chuck Westfall answers Canon users’ questions on technical issues with their Canon gear.

Birthdays, Heresies and Watt-Seconds from Strobist – David Hobby shares some exciting news about how Strobist is shifting gears . . . in a good way.

ColorMunki Photo Review from PhotographyBLOG – This monitor calibration and printer profiling from Xrite received an “Essential” mark and 5 out of 5 stars from PhotographyBLOG.

Photoshop Express revises terms of service from John Nack – Adobe revised their burdensome terms of service for Photoshop Express, which previously sought use of your photos for every purpose under the sun.

No Video on Flickr Movement Gains More Momentum from Thomas Hawk – News of Flickr’s video offerings weren’t so well received by all.  In fact, as Thomas Hawk points out, there’s a movement or perhaps, a revolt, from a not-so-small group of Flickr users that don’t want anything to do with video on their photo sharing site.

 

Olympus E-3 Review at Trusted Reviews

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Trusted Reviews has published its review of the flagship Olympus E-3.

What the Olympus E3 brings to the table is excellent images, a great build quality, and a lovely user experience, but fails to match the innovation of the E-1, or even other models from the Olympus range. Instead it’s taken the best bits, refined them and put them all into a very usable camera.

For the latest news and reviews on the E-3, visit Photography Bay’s Olympus E-3 Reviews and Resources page.

Pentax K200D Review at Photo Review

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Photo Review has posted its review of the Pentax K200D.

Pictures from the test camera had a superficial resemblance to our test shots from the K20D, particularly with respect to the extended dynamic range provided by both cameras. However, the K200D showed less inclination to bias exposures slightly in favour of recording highlight details and the yellow-brown cast we found in test shots taken with the K20D shots was much less evident. 

Flickr Adds Video

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Flickr has just stepped up the standards for online photo media sharing with the launch of video for its pro members (mind you that’s only $25 per year). While anyone can view or share via embedding (like the one to your left) videos, only pro members can upload them. My initial impression is that the quality of the player and the content looks great and works well. Video on Flickr will be available in eight languages including English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and traditional Chinese. [Read more…]

Ricoh GR Digital II Review at Cnet

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Cnet has posted a review of the Ricoh GR Digital II.

The GR Digital II is a cute compact camera that might appeal to street photographers looking to step away from a rangefinder and into digital, but doesn’t deliver the features, performance, or image quality it should given its steep price tag.

For the latest news and reviews, be sure to check out Photography Bay’s Ricoh GR Digital II Reviews and Resources page.

Canon EOS 40D Firmware Update Version 1.0.8

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Canon has updated the firmware for the Canon EOS 40D to version 1.0.8.  The firmware update is available for download here.

This firmware update (Version 1.0.8) incorporates the following improvements and fixes.

  1. Fixes a phenomenon in which Image Stabilization operation emits a sound when certain buttons are pressed, with the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS lens attached to the camera.
  2. Fixes a phenomenon in which the Image Stabilization operation emits a sound from the lens when IS lenses are attached to the camera.
  3. Fixes a phenomenon in which a part of the image looks unnatural when reviewed on the LCD.
  4. Corrects errors in the Spanish and Norwegian menu screens.

The Version 1.0.8 firmware being released this time is for cameras with firmware up to Version 1.0.5.  You can read further details and instructions on how to install the firmware on the download page.

How To: Single-Image HDR

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The following post on HDR photography is by Atlanta based photographer Zach Matthews. Learn more about him at the end of this post.

Over on The Itinerant Angler forums, we’ve spent some time bad-mouthing HDR, and to some extent that is fair. When HDR is over done, it can result in a jacked up, unnatural image.

However, the fact remains that the human eye can see a lot broader dynamic range (meaning brights and darks) at the same time than a camera can. This is because the human eye can vary its “ISO” or exposure sensitivity locally in just one area rather than only across the whole image. This is what allows you to see the inside of a darkened room as well as the brightly lit world out the window at the same time. A camera could only see one or the other.

We have a number of situations in streamside photography (the area most of us work in – but don’t think this technique is limited to that) where we need a broader dynamic range than the equipment allows. The classic situation is one of side light, where light from beside the subject is lighting it (usually a person casting) beautifully, but the background is dark. At times, this can look unnatural. [Read more…]

Sony A200 Review at Neocamera

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Neocamera has posted a review of the 10 megapixel Sony A200.

The Sony Alpha A200 is a compelling entry-level DSLR due to its high image quality and excellent speed of operation. In many ways, this is what new DSLR buyers are looking for. Beginners often want to improve image quality and speed of operation without getting something significantly more complicated then they are used to. The A200 fulfills this role very well as well.

For the latest news and reviews on the A200, be sure to visit Photography Bay’s Sony A200 Reviews and Resources.