Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Archives for July 2008

Photoshop World Conference Keynote Announced

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The headliner for this year’s Photoshop World Conference will be John Loiacono, Adobe’s Senior Vice President of Creative Solutions. He will be taking the stage as the featured keynote presenter at Photoshop World Las Vegas on September 4th.

Loiacono is known for using Photoshop World to launch new projects — he announced the Lightroom 2 Public Beta at Photoshop World Orlando. His presentations are always interesting and engaging, not the typical humdrum business lecture you might expect from someone with his title. Loiacono’s executive bio is on the Adobe site. The above photo is from Loiacono’s talk at last year’s conference.

 

The Imaging Source’s New Telescope Cameras

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Interested in photographing the night sky? The Imaging Source, a company known for high quality imaging equipment, is now offering a line of telescope cameras.

I’ve done just a little bit of star-gazing with a camera in my hand. Astro-photographers seem to run into two problems continuously: first, the cost of equipment makes it an expensive hobby, and second, any photos taken with relatively cheap equipment are guaranteed to have a definite noise problem. The Imaging Source says that their cameras are low noise, however, and the prices are certainly affordable — the cameras range in price from $390 to $870.

There’s one heck of a meteor show in August, and I think I know what I want to photograph it with.

Nikon D700x / D800

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It didn’t take long after the announcement of the Nikon D700 for rumors of the next big thing to take center stage.  Aside from the Nikon D3x and D90 rumors, many sites and forums have begun to report on rumors of a Nikon D800 at 24+ megapixels.  I’m not sure where the Nikon D800 rumors began; however, there doesn’t really seem to be any credible evidence thus far.

Most of the info on the Nikon D800 seems to come from Nikon Rumors, who to their credit have been digging up mocked up images and rumors from their readers.  However, this recent entry shows off some copy take from the September issue of Chasseurs d’Images.  The article seems to discuss (it’s in French) the coming Nikon full frame camera in light of the Sony A900, which is bound to be announced around Photokina.  The article mentions the Nikon D800:

dont celle d’un Nikon D800, qui n’est pas qu’une rumeur.

Google’s translator says this means:

including a Nikon D800, which is not just a rumor.

However, at least one human translator says the end phrase should translate as:

. . . which is nothing more than a rumor.

Anyone that’s fluent in French feel free to clear this article up a bit in the comments below.

UPDATES

2/3/09: Rumors of a PMA 2009 release to compete with the 5D Mark II.  Read more.

Nikon D700 Review at Luminous Landscape

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Luminous Landscape has gotten their hands on the Nikon D700 and posted their thoughts on the new full frame prosumer model.

At any sensitivity up to ISO 1600 there’s little of concern in terms of low noise. Uncanny. At ISO 3200 a slight bit of luminance noise appears, but it can be easily removed in post. ISO 6200 is still eminently usable, and even ISO 12,000 equivalent is acceptable for reportage.

For the latest Nikon D700 news and reviews, be sure to visit Photography Bay’s Nikon D700 Reviews and Resources.

Canon Powershot A590 IS Review at Neocamera

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Neocamera has posted a review of the Canon Powershot A590 IS.

The Canon Powershot A590 IS proved to be an excellent compact digital camera. With a well-rounded feature set including full-manual controls, image stabilization and unlimited continuous shooting, plus use of readily available AA batteries and chear SD (and SDHC) memory, the A590 is one of the best digital camera values currently available.

For the latest news and reviews on the A590, check out Photography Bay’s Canon PowerShot A590 IS Reviews and Resources page.

A Photographer’s Guide to the Beijing Olympics

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Zach Honig (award-winning photographer / PopPhoto editor) has put together a photographer’s guide to the Beijing Olympics, including everything from watching the games at home to details on shooting the games in person.

While I’m not headed off to Beijing myself, I’m fascinated by the differences between photographing athletes in action and my more usual subjects. The guide is only made better by the inclusion of many of Zach’s photos as he works this summer in Beijing.

So far, Zach has covered such topics as eating on the cheap and possible side trips from Beijing as well as the question of what kinds of cameras Olympic attendees can bring in with different cameras.

Canon EOS 450D Review at Trusted Reviews

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Trusted Reviews has posted a review of the Canon EOS 450D.  The new EOS 450D (aka Digital Rebel XSi) kit comes with an stabilized 18-55mm lens. Canon’s entry-level DSLR now features a 3? rear LCD panel that’s capable of Live View framing and focusing.

As usual with Canon’s CMOS-sensored DSLRs noise control is exemplary. There is almost no noise up to 400 ISO, and shots at 800 ISO – the maximum setting in auto mode – are also perfectly usable. Pushing it up to 1600 ISO produces some noise, particularly in darker areas, but thanks to the way Canon applies noise reduction it looks very much like film grain, not an unattractive effect.

Read Photography Bay’s Canon Rebel XSi Review.

For more news, reviews and info on the XSi, check out Photography Bay’s Canon Rebel XSi Reviews and Resources.

Tin Eye: A Search Engine For Images

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TinEye is a solution for photographers wondering where their work has shown up. Whether you’re searching for copyright infringement or just curious on how far that Creative Commons photo has made it, TinEye is a handy tool.

The site is still in beta, but I put my name into their invite request form this morning and received an invite this afternoon — not a long wait at all. The search function is very simple: you can select a photo as if you were uploading it to a site. You can also paste in an image URL or use TinEye’s browser plugin.

TinEye then finds matching images. I searched for the photo I’ve used as my profile picture on hundreds of sites. TinEye didn’t find all of them, but those images it found were exact matches.