Cuba! People-to-people 2012 dream trip for photographers

An great opportunity for an amazing (and legal) culture and people-to-people travel experience awaits a limited group of lucky photogs Everybody knows the mystique of old Habana. Colorful past, music, art and poetry. Incredible 50‘s and 60‘s cars carefully maintained. Beautiful old houses. Glamorous show clubs and equally glamorous tropical paradise. But Cuba has been out of bounds for Americans for decades. No legal travel permitted. Fines and potential imprisonment.

Hands On With The Canon G1 X

Canon surprised many people with the introduction of this camera last week.  A large (1.5′) sensor camera with a fixed zoom lens is a unique product in the marketplace and I can see it being a popular solution with their target audience being people who already have a pro DSLR.  At CES this week in Las Vegas I was able to get my hands on a G1 X and also to have a quick chat with Canon representative Ben Thomas about the camera.

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Nikon At CES With The New D4

At the beginning of January Nikon launched their new flagship pro camera, the D4.    At CES in Las Vegas Nikon had a predictably large presence with the D4 and various other cameras with a strong push towards DSLR video production as well.  I was able to get some hands on time with the D4 to check out some of the new features.

A Look At JVC’s New 4K Camera And The Future Larger Sensor Interchangeable Lens Version

At CES JVC officially launched the GY-HMQ10 which is said to be the world’s first handheld 4K camera.  A walk through the JVC booth also yielded a further surprise though, tucked away in a corner, behind glass was another 4K camera but this one had a Nikon F-Mount.  This is the first time the camera has been shown in public and whilst it’s very much a work in progress , the interchangeable lenses and larger sensor than the HMQ10 make this look like a very interesting proposition with a possible price point of $10,000.  I took a few minutes to talk with Craig Yanagi from JVC about both of these cameras.

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Hands On Impressions Of The Fuji X-Pro 1

Here at CES Fujifilm launched what is set to be one of the hottest cameras of 2012, the X-Pro 1.  All the specs and press release can be found on yesterdays posting but today I was able to get my hand on one for the first time.

Adobe Launches Lightroom 4 Public Beta

Adobe has opened up a free public beta for Lightroom 4.  Once downloaded, users will be able to use LR4 for free until March 31st.  For users of Lightroom 3 it looks to be a fairly gentle upgrade so far, though Adobe have been known to keep back some killer features until launch time.  The biggest feature, that I guess we were all expecting, is the ability to make simple adjustments to videos.  Exposure, tone, contrast and white balance can all be adjusted and the files can be trimmed.

Fuji Launches New X-Pro 1 And 3 Lenses

Fuji has launched their brand new camera system with a new camera, the X-Pro 1 and three fast primes lenses.  The camera follows on from the ever popular X100 with a classic retro styling and is outfitted with a 16MP APS-C sized sensor.  Initially three lenses will be available (18mm f2 , 35mm f1.4 , 60mm f2 Macro) but Fuji has already spoken of two more lenses to come this year and several zooms next year.  It’s only January but this already looks like it could be the hottest camera of the year though it has a $1700 body only price tag that puts it squarely in the pro market.

Canon Creates Its Own Space In The Marketplace With The G1 X

With the mirrorless camera market undeniably in expansion Canon have been the only major manufacturer not to join the party.  Nikon took their time with the 1-Series and rather than battling it out with Olympus, Panasonic and Sony they decided to create their own space for the V1 and J1 cameras by implementing a much smaller sensor than Micro Four Thirds (or APS-C in the case of the Sony NEXs).  This was a smart move on Nikons part as it likely prevented 1-series sales from cannibalizing lower end DSLR sales.  What Canon have chosen to do though is entirely different…

Lexar Introduces 1000x Memory Card

Just in time for CES 2012, Lexar has announced their new 1000x line of cards. Capable of transfer speeds of 150 MB per second, they can handle HD video uncompressed, very fast flushing of the buffer of any still camera, as well as lightning-fast downloads to a computer. It’s the equivalent of a class 20 card.

Datacolor Launches Spyder4 for Simplicity and Accuracy in Color Calibration for all Display Devices

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Datacolor®, a global leader in color management solutions, today introduced Spyder4, a line of highly advanced colorimeters able to calibrate monitors, laptops, projectors, TVs, iPads and even iPhones. Designed to provide photographers and creative professionals with accurate and consistent results, Spyder4 makes quick work of the color correction process.

Hands-on with the HP Envy 110 e-All-In-One

I’ve had the chance to use HP’s new Envy 110 e-All-in-one printer/copier/scanner/fax, and I love it. It’s amazingly easy to set up, has it’s own touch screen to walk you through connecting it to your Wi-Fi (and a LOT more, but we’ll get to that in a bit).

CRU-Dataport Drive Boxes

Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past 20 years, you use computers. And if you’re like most of us, you’ve replaced, upgraded or just added new hard drives. And you’ve kept the old ones. There’s stuff on there you’re using for a backup, archiving specific projects, or just saving it. How do you keep those drives safe and organized?

Video Feature Improvements In The Nikon D4

Nikon have just unveiled the new D4 and with it comes some significant improvements in the video functionality.  When Canon launched their new EOS 1D X they too included a large number of video improvements, enough for a full article about them.  Canon arguably started the so-called DSLR revolution with the 5dMK2 but can Nikon… more »

Nikon Unveils The New D4

Just a few days before the PMA / CES show in Las Vegas, Nikon have unveiled their latest flagship camera, the D4.  Featuring a 16MP full frame sensor capable of shooting photos up to 11fps and iso 204,8000.  Perhaps the biggest surprise though is the development of Nikon’s HD video capabilities.  Among other things the D4 can not only shoot 1080p to the camera’s onboard cards, but also output an uncompressed video signal through the HDMI port for high quality recording on an external recording device. 

My Experiences With Graph Paper Press & Photoshelter For Website Creation

I recently overhauled my personal portfolio website using a combination of services from Graph Paper Press and Photoshelter, two popular Photographer’s solutions, and I wanted to share my experience about the product and service that both companies offer.

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Eliminating Fear of Retouch Outsourcing

Creating a firm relationship with a retouch outsource removes the fear of placing your image files in unknown hands. Strangers no longer! Art professions are traditionally perceived as hands-on, hand made, raw materials to finished art work. Digital photo and video just changed the tools and expanded the options - otherwise art is still art.