Photo life blog..
Ricoh has made available firmware version 1.20 for its recently-launched Caplio R7. The update improves AF accuracy and fixes a bug where 3:2 images are recorded incorrectly when the bracketing feature is used. The update is available now from Ricoh’s support site, link after the click.
By: www.dpreview.com
CNET reviews the Canon PowerShot A650 IS where they give it a rating of 7.6 out of 10. They write - “With its great picture quality and wealth of features, the Canon PowerShot A650 IS makes a great camera for amateur photographers who either don’t want to step up to a digital SLR yet, or who simply want a secondary camera alongside their SLR. Despite its performance and noise issues, the A650 IS presents a fine choice for a flexible, high-resolution, photographer-friendly camera.”
Source: www.livingroom.org.au
Art by Jerry Stinson Click for more screen caps from Corel Painter Essentials.
Corel has released Painter Essentials 4, a new version of its consumer painting and illustration software for Windows and Mac. The program offers a wide selection of paint brushes, pencils, paper textures, and built-in tutorials, and can be used to create photo-based art.
The new version has a redesigned tabbed interface that provides separate Drawing & Painting and Photo Painting workspaces. The program’s Photo Painting System has also been redesigned, and all of its brushes now act as cloners that take their color from the source image. Corel has implemented its Smart Stroke Technology to let users paint photos with strokes that dynamically changing brush size, stroke length, and pressure according to image detail and focus. Painter Essentials 4 also gets a hand-me-down from Corel’s professional painting software, Painter X, in the form of the RealBristle Painting System, which heightens brush responsiveness.
Other added features include a Brush Drawer for easier brush identification and selection, new pen tools, new paper textures, and a new Color Palette that lets users choose a color with one click. Support for Wacom tablets has also been expanded, and the program now provides integrated online print ordering.
Painter Essentials 4 is available for $99, as a $69 upgrade, and as a free trial from Corel’s Web site.
DigitalCameraInfo have reviewed the Canon G9, a 12.1 megapixel update of the G7 compact camera, with a 6x zoom lens, 3 inch LCD screen and the return of RAW mode.
“Canon made a lot of improvements on the PowerShot G9 – most notably the image quality, LCD screen, and RAW file capability. The Canon G9 offers more megapixels than its predecessor, the G7, which on paper suggests it will have better resolution but more noise and worse dynamic range. Our tests prove the G9 has significantly better resolution, better than most cameras released this year. Noise levels are high, but not any higher than the G7, which is commendable. Color accuracy is fantastic, as is the Movie mode, both of which have become consistent successes for high-end Canon PowerShots.”
Website: DigitalCameraInfo - Canon G9 Review
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Carl Zeiss has released a new wide-angle prime lens. As its name indicates, the Distagon T* 2/28 has an f/2 maximum aperture and a 28.5mm focal length. Weighing 18.7 ounces, it takes M58 x 0.75 filters and features a manual focus ring and metal casing. Its minimum aperture is f/22 and the lens can focus as close as 9.45 inches.
The Distagon T* 2/28 will be available in a ZF version for cameras with a Nikon F bayonet mount and a ZK version for cameras with a Pentax K bayonet mount. Both cost $984 and will be available in Fall 2007.
The gunmetal grey Samsung L74 Wide (street, $240) is a slim 7.2-megapixel digital camera with a true wide angle 28-101mm f/2.8-5.6 (35 mm equivalent) lens, cool styling, and an easy-to-operate touchscreen interface. Throw in some fun extras and an entertaining (if not always 100% accurate) built-in Tour Guide and you’ve got the ultimate class-trip camera.
Aimed at the youth market, the L74 Wide’s build is solid and stylish. But with a look that’s both modern and retro, the camera should appeal to both old school film shooters and the Web-savvy youths. Throw in a true 28mm equivalent wide angle lens and you’ve got the potential for a serious pocket-sized vacation camera.
About that wide angle lens: it folds back, if not flush, into the body, and it’s a Samsung NV optic, not Schneider-Kreuznach optics like some of its siblings. The circular lens bump is a nice design element that extends from the body about as much as the finger grip’s vertical rubber strip.
By: www.popphoto.com
PhotographyBLOG reviews the Canon EOS 40D and writes - ‘The high points of the Canon EOS 40D are the tough, durable body, the control layout and that amazing 6.5fps shooting mode. Yes, it does soundly like a badly-muffled machine-gun, but it lets you grab action sequences that lesser cameras would miss. The speed of the AF system keeps moving subjects sharp, too. But perhaps the most striking thing about the Canon EOS 40D is its value. It’s true that it costs more than other 10-megapixel cameras, but it’s also much more professionally-orientated. Its nearest rival in the semi-pro market would be the newly-announced Nikon D300, but the list price is £1300 for the body only, and for that money you could get an EOS 40D and Canon’s 17-85mm image-stabilised lens and have change to spare. The Canon EOS 40D’s strength doesn’t lie in any great technological breakthrough but in its professional appeal and its sheer value for money.’
Did you find this a helpful Review of the 40D?
Source: www.livingroom.org.au
A survey by J.D. Power and Associates has found that Canon ranks highest among photo printer brands in providing its customers with a satisfying experience. The survey of 814 customers ranked Canon highest with a score of 728 on a 1,000-point scale. Hewlett-Packard followed Canon in the rankings with a score of 707. “While price continues to be the most important factor to customers in shopping for a photo printer, because of fundamental price parity, other aspects of the product, like quality, ease of use and portability are largely defining brands, and are becoming the critical points of product differentiation between them.” said Steve Kirkeby, executive director of telecommunications and technology at J.D. Power and Associates.
J.D. Power and Associates Press Release
Canon Ranks Highest in Photo Printer Customer Satisfaction
Functions and Capabilities That Make the Photo Printing Experience More Convenient Have a Considerable Impact on Owner Satisfaction
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 20 September 2007 — Canon ranks highest among photo printer brands in providing its customers with a satisfying experience, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Photo Printer Usage and Satisfaction StudySM released today.
The study measures customer satisfaction with single-function photo printer machines by examining four key factors that drive overall satisfaction. In order of importance, they are: performance (37%), connectivity (28%), ease of operation (23%), and styling and appearance (12%).
Canon ranks highest with a score of 728 on a 1,000-point scale and performs particularly well in all four drivers of overall satisfaction. Hewlett-Packard follows Canon in the rankings with a score of 707.
The study finds that photo printer features that make the experience more convenient for customers—such as portability, the ability to print photos directly from a digital camera or a memory card and wireless connectivity—have a positive impact on overall satisfaction. In particular, more than 40 percent of customers who purchased a portable printer did so because of its portability, and satisfaction scores among these owners (729) is much higher than that of printer owners without portability (692).
“Single-function photo printers are a growing niche market, particularly among customers who value convenience in efficiently producing photo prints,” said Steve Kirkeby, executive director of telecommunications and technology at J.D. Power and Associates. “While price continues to be the most important factor to customers in shopping for a photo printer, because of fundamental price parity, other aspects of the product, like quality, ease of use and portability are largely defining brands, and are becoming the critical points of product differentiation between them.”
The average price for a photo printer in 2007 is $175, and 19 percent of customers cite price as the most influential reason for purchasing a photo printer. Print quality (17%) and brand reputation (14%) follow price as key purchase influencers among customers.
“Bundling photo printers with other products—such as digital cameras or personal computers—is another effective way for brands to differentiate themselves in a market where products are competitively priced,” said Kirkeby. “Customers who receive bundled packages tend to have somewhat higher satisfaction levels than those who do not. While only 20 percent currently receive photo printer/digital camera bundles, purchasers appear to have a bias towards same brand ownership, where the printer and camera brand are the same. Manufacturers can definitely use this preference to their advantage.”
The study also reveals the following:
While 80 percent of customers purchase their photo printers in stores as opposed to purchasing through an online source, customers who purchase online are more satisfied with the overall availability of products and accessories.
Nearly 90 percent of customers report that they would repurchase from the same printer manufacturer. Additionally, 90 percent of customers would give a positive recommendation to a friend. The average number of customer-reported recommendations is 4.1.
Twenty percent of photo printer owners sometimes order their prints online to receive via mail as opposed to utilizing their single-function printer. Kodakgallery.com, Shutterfly.com, Snapfish.com and Walmart.com are among the most frequently used Web sites for photo printer owners.
The 2007 Photo Printer Usage and Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 814 customers who purchased or received a photo printer between June 2006 and May 2007. The study was fielded in July 2007. To view ratings on photo printer brands, visit JDPower.com.
About J.D. Power and Associates
Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is an ISO 9001-registered global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, training and customer satisfaction. The firm’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit JDPower.com. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
About The McGraw-Hill Companies
Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor’s, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2006 were $6.3 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.
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Perhaps no photographic genre is more popular than the landscape, and today there may be no more important one. The poignancy of the landscape — fragile, beautiful, ever-changing, threatened — has long called out to photographers.
And they have responded, driven by the urge to document, celebrate, and remember what they have seen. In that sense, all landscape photography is a kind of conservation photography. Here we take a look at how two very different people with two very different visions, Jim Richardson and J. Henry Fair, set out to photograph the lay of the land.
National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson has shot the Celtic lands of Cornwall, the architecture of Venice, and the whisky country of Scotland. But when he returns home, it is to Lindsborg, Kansas, that most American of places.
“Kansas is where I grew up, and it’s where I choose to live,” he says. “For me, no other place smells quite right, you know.” Two years ago Richardson proposed a story for the magazine on the state’s Flint Hills region, the last remaining expanse of tall grass prairie on the continent. But he knew going into the project that he was facing a photographic problem.
“It’s a place I’d been back to many times in my career, and as a photographer I’d never done very well there,” he says. “It is a prairie, and prairies are tough to shoot.” The Flint Hills are simply rolling hills and grass, with few landmarks to place in the foreground to create a sense of depth. “Once you pick up a camera and point it at them, they just kind of diminish in the distance. They’re not like the Tetons in Wyoming, which are big enough to fill a 4×5 frame.”
Richardson’s solution was to “work the story for all it’s worth.” A landscape is rarely successfully photographed in one day. “One of the things you do is to drive a hell of a lot of miles to find the place that has the look you envision,” he says. Richardson had the advantage of a lengthy shooting schedule: He began work in March 2006 and didn’t finish until late the following autumn. He was able to shoot as prairie chickens began their courting, or “booming,” in early spring, and later in the summer, when ranchers burn off dead grasses in a man-made version of the natural prairie phenomenon that keeps nongrass vegetation from taking root. Still later he shot the intense regrowth period, when new grass turns the region emerald green.
The backing of National Geographic also allowed Richardson to hire a plane for aerial shots, but he essentially relied on his knowledge of the area to get the pictures he wanted. He knew that Kansas thunderstorms create a lot of visual drama, and he knew the back roads that led to little-known corners of the state. Most of all, he says, he remained alive to creative possibilities — shooting lightning bugs over a field of wild alfalfa an hour after sunset, or creating a panoramic image of the Milky Way with four separate exposures.
-Jeffrey Elbies
Our latest hands-on preview of the very latest as-yet unreleased digital SLRs continues with the Nikon D3, the bigger brother to the D300. Nikon’s first full-frame digital SLR also features live view, a high resolution three inch LCD monitor and HDMI output. See how the D3 is shaping up in our twelve page hands-on preview.
By: www.dpreview.com