Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips
For those of you wanting an in-depth look at the Nikon D700 and/or the SB-900, you can read up on the new gear via the official user manuals – even if you can’t get your hands on the new camera or flash just yet.
UPDATE: It looks like the links to the D700 are down at the moment. The SB-900 manual still downloads though. (Here’s the link to Nikon’s download page for the D700.)
D700 User Guide (Warning: 19MB)
Today, Sony announced their new flagship flash for the alpha DSLR lineup. Sony had previously alluded to the coming of this flash, when discussing their flagship A900 DSLR. For details on the new F58AM speedlight, see the press release below.
PRESS RELEASE:
SAN DIEGO, Jun. 19, 2008 – Sony is expanding its a (alpha) system of accessories to include the new HVL-F58AM flash unit with exceptional features for versatile and flexible external lighting control.
This new flash features a new and innovative Quick Shift Bounce system. It offers more creative ways to achieve lighting, flash and bounce angles you may not have been able to experience before.
The flash head can pivot 90 degrees left and right on a horizontal axis in addition to the conventional up and down vertical adjustment. With this system, the camera and flash unit can keep the same orientation regardless of portrait or landscape shooting. This gives a higher degree of flexibility when arranging the direction of light. [Read more…]
A few months ago, SmugMug added video capabilities to its repertoire of sharing features. SmugMug has now followed up with embedding capabilities for a variety of video sizes including HD. Don MacAskill gives the rundown on the new H.264 embedded format here.
I’m a big SmugMug advocate. I’ve been nothing but thrilled with their photo hosting and sharing services. You can read more of my thoughts on an earlier Photography Bay post – 7 Alternatives to Flickr.
While SmugMug “demands video to be awesome”, I ran into a little bit of a lag issue on my aging iMac G5. I have to say though, that the video quality looks great for a flash-based video. How’s the above video working for you (for both streaming and quality)?
If you decide to give SmugMug a try, you can use this code ( 7jCtURK05RxCQ ) in the ‘Referred by’ field on the signup form to save $5 from whatever account you sign up for. (Disclosure: I get a credit as well.)
Company Introduces World’s First Commercial 16-gigabit, 3-Bit-Per-Cell NAND Flash ChipSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, February 6, 2008 – Reaching a new threshold in the development of flash memory, SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) today announced that it expects to start mass production of the world’s first commercial three-bit-per-cell (x3) NAND flash memory in March/April 2008. The 16-gigabit (Gb) x3 NAND flash employs SanDisk’s standard 56 nanometer (nm) flash technology and provides over 20 percent more die per wafer compared to standard NAND Multi-Level Cell (MLC) memory (2-bits-per-cell) on the same technology node. x3 enables higher manufacturing efficiency and lower die cost for the same capital investment. The new x3 flash architecture has been in development for the past two years and employs SanDisk’s most advanced patented design innovations to achieve the same performance and high reliability found in SanDisk’s 2-bits-per-cell chips. [Read more…]