Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips
Shape Collage is one of those programs that makes you go: “Cool!” I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this program before I received an email today from the Shape Collage creator.
You can watch the above video or read Vincent’s explanation of the program below. [Read more…]
Adobe has made release candidates of Lightroom 2.6 and Camera Raw 5.6 available for download in Adobe Labs. These versions add raw file support for the following cameras:
Canon EOS 7D
Canon PowerShot G11
Canon PowerShot S90
Leaf Aptus II 5
Mamiya DM22, DM28, DM33, DM56, M18, M22, M31
Nikon D3s
Olympus E-P2
Pentax K-x
Panasonic FZ38
Sigma DP1s
Sony A500
Sony A550
Sony A850
Remember, these are release candidates, which means they’ve been pretty well tested and Adobe thinks they are ready for full release; however, it’s recommended that you keep production work to prior versions until the official releases drop. Expect those to come soon though. Release candidates mean that the final versions are just around the corner.
Lightroom 2.6 release candidate can be downloaded here.
Camera Raw 5.6 release candidate can be downloaded here.
Lightroom 3 Beta has not been updated yet.
DxO Labs has announced DxO Optics Pro 6, which is geared toward taming high ISO RAW conversion and extends optical fault correction. Additionally, the software adds support for Olympus DSLRs, the Sony A230, A330 and A380, as well as the Nikon D300s.
More details in the press release below. [Read more…]
Alien Skin, makers of Bokeh, Blow Up 2, Exposure 2, Image Doctor 2 and Snap Art 2, has a couple of discount offers that run through October 21.
Here’s the word from Alien Skin, part of which will require you to put your thinking cap on:
Everything in the Alien Skin store is 20% off, but just until October 21st. And no we aren’t going to extend it. If you don’t already know how our products will make your work go faster and look better, then check out our web site. It is chock full of beautiful example images, informative videos, rave reviews, and demo versions.
Also, Jeff Butterworth, CEO, snuck an Easter egg into Snap Art 2 when no one was looking. If you enter 111 into the Random Seed for the Stylize filter then it will render something out of the ordinary. He’ll give you a concrete reward for finding the Easter egg. Do you know the mathematician who discovered that beautiful shape? You can use his first name (without accents) as a coupon code in our online store to get 25% off. Consider this the math nerd version of our sale, both of which end on October 21st.
Camera Bits has launched a new camerabits.com website for its forums, library of video tutorials and other content. Additionally, Camera Bits has introduced version 4.6.2 of Photo Mechanic, which adds features including improvements to uploading templates, stability, speed and service improvements for both Leopard and Snow Leopard and more.
See the press release below for more details. [Read more…]
Adobe has released a Photoshop app for the iPhone. It’s a available for free from the iTunes App Store.
In the new Photoshop app, you get adjustment features like cropping, exposure, saturation and tint, along with a number of presets and stylized effects. The overall user interface is pretty slick, which you would expect from Adobe. You slide your fingertip across the image in several of the settings to add or reduce their intensity. The crop tool is so smooth too – it just works the way cropping should. Overall, the app feels very intuitive.
One thing I really like about the app is that it leaves your photos on your camera roll untouched and creates a copy for you to edit. As a result, you get a second version of your image to process and you’ve always got your clean original if you want to do something else. The new, edited photo is saved as the last image in your iPhone’s camera roll when you are done with it in the Photoshop app. I’m not sure if or which other apps do this, but I appreciate this feature. [Read more…]
onOne has announced Photo Essentials 3 for Photoshop Elements, which includes support for the new Elements 8.
The Photo Essentials software tools are designed to help you unleash the power of Photoshop Elements more easily by minimizing the work that goes into common image editing tasks. For example, the new Make It Cool module in Photo Essentials 3 gives you a library of effects that you can easily apply to your images with the click of a mouse. The Make It Cool module includes over 40 effects that simulate classic film, filter and darkroom techniques like sepia toning and cross processing. Other tools inside Photo Essentials 3 let you apply automatic enhancement settings, remove backgrounds and add frame and border effects, among others.
Photo Essentials 3 will be available October 2009 at an initial retail price of $69.99. Check availability on Amazon.com.
More details below. [Read more…]
Google has released Picasa 3.5. This new version of the popular, free photo photo editing software adds a number of features for organizing and sharing online.
In Picasa 3.5, you can now import to Picasa’s desktop client and upload to your Picasa Web Albums account in one step. Additionally, Picasa 3.5 has added face detection technology and will help you tag faces of individuals in your photo library (see above screen capture). You also get geotagging integration with Google Maps for easy drag and drop to the location you got the shot. Google also improved the tagging system for better bulk tagging, quick tags and tag counts.
To read more about the updates and download Picasa 3.5, see picasa.google.com.
Adobe has just announced Photoshop Elements 8, which offers a number of enhancements that appear to be geared toward a more user-friendly environment. That’s not to say that there isn’t horsepower available in Elements 8, given that it borrows even more tech from Photoshop CS4, like Photomerge Exposure for an HDR experience in Elements. Additionally, Windows users can pony up for a “Plus” version, which adds 20GB of online storage for automatic backups.
Photoshop Elements 8 will be available in October 2009 at an initial retail price of $99.99. Check availability on Amazon.com.
See the following press release from Adobe for more details. [Read more…]
DxO Labs has updated DxO Optics Pro to the latest version 5.3.5, which adds support for the Sony A850. The update also provides better noise control for the Sony A900 and adds support for the Tamron 18-270mm Di-II lens. There are many more updates in the new version. Get more details in the press release below and check out the full compatibility list on DxO’s website. [Read more…]