Submitted by David Cardinal on Thu, 08/19/2010 - 05:41
New NIKKOR Glass Yields an Unprecedented Seven Lenses Released to Date in 2010
MELVILLE, N.Y. Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Nikon Inc. announced four new lenses to the legendary NIKKOR line to meet the needs of all types of photographers, from those looking for the ideal lens for capturing memories of the school play to pro glass that captures client work in the studio. The new AF-S DX 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR, AF-S 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR and AF-S 85mm f/1.4G deliver the optical excellence and stunning image quality that consumers have become accustomed to with AF-S NIKKOR lenses. Nikon's optical engineering experience and devotion to extraordinary standards of excellence have contributed to the strength and legend of the NIKKOR brand. With the addition of these four lenses, 2010 has seen the introduction of a total of seven new NIKKOR lenses, reinforcing Nikon's role as the world leader in optics.
Submitted by David Cardinal on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 08:50
One missing link in Nikon's Pro lens line has been the lack of VR on the mid-range and wide-angle zoom lenses. Certainly VR is not as important on these lenses as on longer focal lengths, but there are many conditions where hand-holding is the only option and a low shutter speed is the best option. Now with the new 16-35mm f/4 AF-S VR Nikon has addressed the shortcoming...The lens features include:
Sigma continues to impress me with their updated versions of pro and semi-pro lense for D-SLRs. They provide excellent value with pricing below the Nikon and Canon versions while not sacrificing image quality. Their new (same as USM or AF-S) is no exception...
Submitted by cardinal on Wed, 01/27/2010 - 08:49
Nikon released minor updates for many of its software packages today, including: View NX 1.5.3, Nikon Transfer 1.5.3 (Windows) / 1.5.2 ( Macintosh), WT-4 Setup Utility 1.1.4, Thumbnail Selector 1.1.4, WT-4 Camera Control Utility for 64-bit OS (v.1.1.4 Windows only). View NX and Nikon Transfer primarily add support for both Windows 7 and Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6.x), but there have also been several bug fixes, and a few added features as well...
The WT-4 Setup Utility and Thumbnail Selector add Wireless Transmitter support for the D3S, Mac OS 10.5.8 (Leopard), and Windows 7.
Submitted by David Cardinal on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 08:23
Nikon has just rolled out a very useful firmware update for most of their Pro D-SLR line (except the D3S which presumably already has these improvemnts). The new firmware includes support for CF cards up to 64GB, improved Auto White Balance, some focus options and my favorite which sets the time from a GPS clock. You can download it from the Nikon USA site. For more details...
Submitted by David Cardinal on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 17:54
Bibble Labs is shipping its updated flagship Bibble Pro 5. Faster than ever Bibble is the speed king of raw file processors. The newest version now has selective non-destructive editing added to its arsenal, clearly an attempt to broaden its capabilities to match up with Adobe Lightroom. It can be downloaded from Bibble Labs and is a free upgrade to recent Bibble licensees, or $99 for those with older licenses. A full version is $199. The full details follow...
When I first wrote about my Ironkey secure USB drive I didn't really expect to need its fancy self-destruct feature. But sure enough it got left at the Johannesburg security checkpoint and I didn't realize it until a day later. That one incident paid for the device. Because it is totally secure, both encrypted and physically designed to be impervious to cracking, I didn't have to worry about a thing. Simply get another one. But it does so much more than protecting your data that I wanted to update my review, especially since I'm sure many of you will wind up with Amazon gift cards burning a hole in your pocket after Christmas...
Submitted by David Cardinal on Tue, 12/22/2009 - 08:20
PhotoAcute has released PhotoAcute Studio 2.89 which includes better alignment of exposure bracketed images (like those used to create HDR images) with moving objects or varying illumination. It also features some new profiles (listed below) and some other fixes. It is a free download for current users.
Complete list of changes in version 2.89:
- Better blending of HDR images of scenes with moving objects and varying illumination;
It's easy to get excited about great, close-up flight images. But not as easy to duplicate them. One mistake many photographers make is to zoom in as far as they can right away and desparately try to focus on the bird--often against a mottled background. They would probably be better off just taking a deep breath and making a plan to work their way into the shooting opportunity.
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More and more birders are becoming interested in photography. To go beyond the limitations of digiscoping (limited low light capability, tricky auto-focus, limited panning or ability to capture action, etc.) requires a fairly serious investment in a camera body and lenses. In this section of our exclusive GearGuide we'll cover tips for what to look for in a camera body...
Even more important to excellent bird photography than having the right camera is having the right lens. There is no point in purchasing that dream camera body and crippling yourself with a cheap lens. In the 8 years I've been leading digital photo safaris I've had the chance to use or at least see used just about every likely lens made for Nikon and Canon camera bodies and have plenty of hopefully useful thoughts to share with you:
Submitted by David Cardinal on Fri, 12/11/2009 - 14:38
Photodex has released Producer 4.1 (free to current licensees of Producer) including built-in Facebook and Twitter integration (automatically upload your shows to Facebook and/or announce your uploads on Twitter. They've also improved performance, fixed a lot of bugs and improved the interface to slide styles. You can download it now, or read the full set of improvements...
What’s New in ProShow Producer 4.1?
Integrated Facebook & Vimeo Support
Submitted by David Cardinal on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 08:42
Nikon has updated the already excellent 300mm f/2.8 AF-S lens with VR II (enhanced VR) and a Nano Crystal coat for reduced glare, and the least favored sibling of the Nikon TC family the TC-20E III...
Submitted by David Cardinal on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 06:05
Adobe Labs has released a beta of Camera Raw 5.6 and the equivalent module for Lightroom, adding support for a variety of cameras including the Nikon D3S, the Canon 7D, S90 and G11, as well as several new Sony models. You can download it from: http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Camera_Raw_5.6#Release_Notes
The complete list of models supported is:
As raw files become the common currency of high-end photographry a widening array of tools is arriving to help photographers get the most from them. I've been using SpyderCube from Datacolor/Colorvision for awhile to help set white and black points along with white balance for color critical situations.
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