« August 2005 | Main | October 2005 »

September 29, 2005

[ DIGITAL PHOTOS WITHOUT THE PC ]

dpexpert has been testing the feasibility of eliminating the computer from the digital photography process. Some people tell us that they would like to get a digital camera but they are reluctant to come to grips with the personal computer and difficult software like Photoshop.

Kodak recognised this inhibitor to the take-up of digital and made a marketing point of the way that their Easyshare cameras could sit on top of a little dye sublimation printer and, using the camera’s LCD screen, connect direct from camera to printer.

The industry has now embraced a standard for connecting cameras to printers without an intervening PC and the technology is called Pictbridge. And some printers incorporate memory card readers for direct printing.

The Epson PictureMate “personal photo lab” (RRP $349) is an inkjet printer that uses Epson’s pigment inks and promises print life of 104 years. The PictureMate is one of a category of printers that turn out the standard 10cm by 15cm prints.

Cameras can be connected directly through Pictbridge and there is an array of memory card slots coping with just about every card form. The PictureMate also connects to a PC via USB.

The PictureMate has a tiny LCD screen that displays the photos in memory as well as all the menu functions. The whole unit looks like a little lunch box and even comes with a handle for carrying. There is an optional battery for extra portability and Bluetooth wireless connectivity.

It takes about 90 seconds to make one print and the image quality is outstanding. At 44 cents per print for consumables this is one serious “personal photo lab” if a little more expensive than prints from a photo shop. We printed from the computer, a memory card and direct from a camera -- every print was excellent.

The Sony DPP-FP50 (RRP $299) is another postcard printer, but this one uses the dye sublimation process. The paper passes through the printer 4 times as each colour layer and a protective layer is added. Special paper and toner come together in a pack and prints cost about 75 cents each in the 80 sheet pack.

Sony assume that a television will be used as the display monitor to check and select prints but it can be connected to a PC via USB, even though a USB lead is not included. The FP50 also prints index sheets of all the images on the memory card. We plugged a Compact Flash card from a Nikon D70 directly into the printer and the results were good as were prints from the computer.

The Sony FP50 is compact but apart from that the Epson PictureMate is the better printer. The LCD screen means that the Epson is a true stand-alone printer and the inkjet quality is better than the dye sublimation system. On top of that the cost-per-print from the Epson is less than the Sony. The Epson is not pretty but it is superbly functional. The Sony is recommended and the Epson is highly recommended. We produced nearly 200 excellent prints from the PictureMate and were amazed at the consistency of colour and tone between the monitor and the prints. We consider the PictureMate to be a rather special piece of digital equipment.

Posted by terry at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2005

[ NIKON COOLPIX S2 ]

Price: $699
Rating: 4 stars

The goods: The Nikon Coolpix S2 is a 5 megapixel fashion accessory camera, advertised by Nikon as being “Surprisingly slim, exceptionally stylish.”

The face area of the camera is about the same as a credit card and it is 25mm thick. It is made of aluminium and feels durable. There is no optical viewfinder but there is a large 65mm LCD screen that has one remarkable feature – it is actually visible in sunlight. Most of these cameras without viewfinders are impossible to use outdoors on a sunny day, but Nikon seem to have solved the problem.

The camera starts up when the metal slide covering the lens is pulled down. The zoom lens (35–105mm film equivalent) does not extend but uses what Nikon calls a “right angle optics system”. It seems almost too good to be true, but the results are impressive. Resolution – a function of the lens and sensor combination – is excellent. Enlargements up to A3 are possible.

White balance is acceptable but not as good as some other Nikon cameras. Focus is quick and precise.

The S2 has a rechargeable battery with good capacity.

Like this: The S2 has a clever little trick up its sleeve called “D Lighting”. When you take the once-in-a-lifetime picture and it is underexposed the camera can process the shot to bring out lost detail in a selective way so that lightening the shadows, for instance, doesn’t blow out the highlights. The results can be quite remarkable, akin to using auto levels in Photoshop.

Dislike that: There are no manual controls at all in the S2, apart from ISO sensitivity, white balance and exposure compensation. This level of simplicity will appeal to some but deter a serious photographer.

Parting shot: The fashion accessory camera is a crowded sector of the market and the latest generation of cameras has, to some extent, overcome the problems that occur when there is no viewfinder. The quality of images from these little point-and-shoot cameras is very good and the Nikon Coolpix S2 is one of the best examples of the breed. It is expensive -- the excellent 7mp Nikon 7900 is $50 dearer and worth it.

THERE ARE A FEW SAMPLE PICTURES FROM THE NIKON COOLPIX S2 IN THE GALLERY.

Posted by terry at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)

[ KONICA MINOLTA DiMAGE Z5 ]

Price: $799
Rating: 3.5 stars

The goods: The Konica Minolta Dimage Z5 is a 5 megapixel, 12x zoom camera with a 35mm equivalent range of 35–420mm. The lens is fast -- f2.8 at the wide end, dropping to f4.5 at maximum extension. The camera has the Konica Minolta Anti-shake system making it possible to hand hold even when the lens is at its longest extension and shutter speeds are relatively slow.

The Z5 has a distinctive futuristic appearance that will appeal to some and deter others. The camera is easy to hold and controls are generally well-placed and intuitive.

The lens is excellent and the image sharpness, in ideal conditions, is exemplary. Exposure is spot on and colour rendition is good. In some lighting conditions, with the lens at its longest extension, focussing can be a problem.

The Z5 is the perfect camera for anyone doing close-up photography. There is a two-stage macro – press the macro button once for standard and press it again for “super” macro, in which mode the camera will focus as close as 1 cm and the camera automatically fixes the zoom to the correct focal length.

The Z5 uses four AA batteries and it is a power hog. A set of Duracell alkaline batteries took fewer than 100 shots. Factor into the cost of the camera a set of rechargeables and a charger.

Like this: The image stabilisation works well. The supplied software bundle is outstanding.

Dislike that: The Z5 is in most respects an excellent camera, but it has an Achilles heel. When the shutter release is half-depressed to set focus and exposure the image in the viewfinder freezes. This is disconcerting. Other camera makers have fixed this issue in their EVF cameras.

Parting shot: The Konica Minolta Z5 is up against some stiff competition from Sony, Canon and Panasonic. The 12x zoom category of camera is the most fiercely contested and choosing is not easy. Konica Minolta have just released the Z6, a similar camera to the Z5 but with 6 megapixels.

*

Look at Barbara Matheson's beautiful Z5 images in the Gallery.

*

Posted by terry at 07:35 PM | Comments (0)

[ ANOTHER MILESTONE… ]

AN IMPORTANT MILESTONE in the transition from silver based photography to digital imaging was passed in June. Kodak announced that they were stopping production of conventional black and white photographic paper. The factory in Brazil was closed and the company drew a little closer to its downsize target of 15,000 sackings world-wide.

For those who have spent years puddling around in the darkroom, up to their elbows in toxic chemicals, it was almost unbelievable that the company that had democratised photography over one hundred years ago should be withdrawing from the basic chemistry and technology on which it was based.

At more or less the same time that it announced an end to silver-based monochrome paper Kodak launched a new line of inkjet papers, called Kodak Professional Inkjet Photo Paper. Initially the paper comes in two surfaces, Gloss and Lustre. Lustre is a dimpled semi-matte paper.

Kodak’s domestic inkjet papers have not worked well with all printers, being more or less incompatible with Canon’s best photo quality machines. dpexpert uses a Canon i9950 eight colour wide format printer which does not take kindly to the Kodak papers, so we approached the new Professional papers with caution.

We need not have worried. The new paper is a different medium altogether from the domestic paper in the yellow packets. Because of the coincidence of the two announcements we decided to jump right in and try the black and white capabilities of the new paper. Results on the Lustre paper are superb with rich, deep blacks and glowing greys and clean highlights.

Before trying a colour print we were advised to follow Kodak’s instructions for the new paper to the letter. And we found that any deviation from even one of the parameters resulted in grossly erroneous colours.

Kodak provide printer profiles for all of the best-known photo printers at their web site. It is essential to download and install the specified profile for the printer being used. Instructions for assigning colour profiles and printer settings are found by clicking on “Support Main” in the links on the web site.

It is assumed that Photoshop is being used to prepare photos for printing. A Kodak-specific ICC profile must be assigned to the open image and the various parameters in “Print with preview” must be correctly set.

Following the instructions exactly produced excellent results. The Lustre surface is particularly attractive. The Glossy doesn’t have the high sheen of Canon and Epson papers but it produces fine detail and accurate colour. Kodak says that the fibre base of these inkjet papers is the same as used for their silver gelatine papers.

The Kodak Professional Inkjet Photo Paper is highly recommended for anyone prepared to take the trouble to use it correctly. Well worth laying out for a packet to give it a try.

*

Posted by terry at 07:18 PM | Comments (0)

[ DIGITISING NOSTALGIA ]

DPEXPERT has had the little EPSON PICTUREMATE “personal photo lab” on the test bench for the past week or so. This is Epson’s printer that produces standard size [10cm by 15cm] prints.

We have been so impressed by the stunning output of this printer that we were moved to dig out some of our slides from years past and to turn them into prints.

40 years ago we took a trip around the Flinders Ranges in the north of South Australia, toting a Pentax SLR. Remember the early Pentaxes that had a semi-automatic diaphragm and no built-in meter? You weren't born yet? Oh well, take our word for it... The Takumar lenses were a revelation but operation was pretty clunky. Nevertheless, using a mix of Kodachrome [ISO 32 anybody? How can they make such a fast film without grain raising its ugly head?] and Ektachrome we took some nice shots.

Once we got them back from Kodak processing we put them through the projector once and then put them in a box and they haven’t been seen since. What a waste!

So the other day we found the box, fed the slides through the old Epson FilmScan 200, and more or less reprocessed the pictures through Photoshop. It is amazing how much dust settles on slides stored in closed boxes. But it is also amazing how well Photoshop can remove dust from solid areas of colour, such as skies.

We selected the sky area in each photo, clicked on Filter/Noise/Dust and Scratches and with one click of the mouse the skies came up clean as a whistle. We didn’t bother poking around in the densely detailed areas of the pictures – we let the dust pose as grass!

Once we started we couldn’t stop! We now have 50 prints of photos last seen in 1965 and we have the virtuous feeling that we have rescued something from the waste dump.

*

Posted by terry at 06:58 PM | Comments (3)

September 14, 2005

[ KEEPING ADOBE HONEST ]

COREL HAS JUST RELEASED VERSION X OF PAINT SHOP PRO, the alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop image editing products. Paint Shop Pro X doesn’t have the power of Photoshop CS2, but it costs several hundred dollars less. Compared with Photoshop Elements 3, the cheaper cut-down version of Adobe’s class leader, Paint Shop Pro X is a clear winner.

The retail price will be around $200+ and a free 31 day trial version, which is not crippled except for its expiry date, can be downloaded now from www.corel.com A word of warning: this 104 mb download is for the bandwidth-blessed.

Compared with Paint Shop Pro 9, which was an already well-developed image editing program, X has some new automated routines for fixing red-eye, removing facial blemishes, eliminating the purple fringing that plagues some compact digital cameras and reducing image noise.

The picture noise reducer is aggressive and tends to smooth out textures that are not noise at all, but this has one intriguing side-effect -- it is an easy way of adding glamour to a portrait. A little bit of noise reduction makes skin smooth and glowing, if a little plasticky.

Paint Shop Pro X has a one-click colour to black and white converter that works extremely well. It has colour filter effects built in so that the darkening effect of a red filter on blue sky in black and white, for instance, can be simulated. The black and white converter also produces ersatz infra red images from colour and a nice antique sepia toning effect.

Paint Shop Pro X scores over Photoshop Elements in the serious image manipulation tools like Curves and Scripts (Actions, in Adobe-talk -- automated routines like macros). Photoshop Elements doesn’t support Actions and it doesn’t include the indispensable Curves tone adjustment tool.

Paint Shop Pro X offers a collection of automated colour, sharpness and exposure corrections for those who can’t be bothered with the serious stuff, but it also provides all the tools for anyone who wants to do the job properly. Imaging found that neither program did a good job of automatically fixing an underexposed picture with incorrect white balance but Paint Shop Pro offers a semi-automatic procedure called Smart Photo Fix in which parameters can be fiddled with and the results seen on a reactive preview image. It works well.

Paint Shop Pro X is highly recommended to any digi-photographer with serious aspirations and a low budget.

*

Posted by terry at 03:02 PM | Comments (1)

September 10, 2005

[ POSTING COMMENTS ON dpexpert ]

THERE HAS BEEN A PROBLEM with the COMMENTS posting facility. But it has now been fixed and we hope that it won't happen again!

To post a COMMENT simply go to the bottom of the article and click on the word COMMENTS and a comments box will open.

There is a delay between posting and the comment appearing. Sadly, in this naughty old world, we have to vet and pass every individual comment in order to keep the spammers at bay.

Terry L

Posted by terry at 12:26 PM | Comments (4)

September 08, 2005

[ LIVEWIRE REVIEWS — 8 Sept 05 ]

LINKS TO TODAY'S LIVEWIRE REVIEWS OF THE

SONY CYBERSHOT DSC H1
GALLERY IMAGES FROM THE SONY H1

NIKON D50
GALLERY IMAGES FROM THE NIKON D50 with a Tamron lens

*

Posted by terry at 08:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 07, 2005

[ WHEN SHOULD I BUY, MR MARX? ]

LAST WEEK OUR PAL A told us that he had bought a Canon 10D digital SLR body for $1400 from a well known retailer of camera gear in the city. We were startled.

First, the Canon 10D has been superseded by the 20D with an extra two million pixels on the sensor. Second, we didn’t know that there were any 10Ds left in the shop because we assumed that the manufacturers and distributors managed the transition from the old model to the new so cleverly that when the new camera arrives all the old models have been sold.

But we were mainly astonished at what a great deal A had secured. Just a few months ago the price of the Canon 10D body was more like $2400. So what’s the catch? Is the camera really obsolete? Is the replacement model really worth $1000 more? Most importantly, if two photographs of the same subject taken with each camera were set side by side would anyone be able to pick the difference?

When the Canon 10D was released in 2003 it was hailed as a marvel. The Canon CMOS 6 megapixel sensor set the standard for the type of camera. It was the camera of choice for the well-heeled, serious amateur photographer. And the fact is that the camera still takes terrific pictures with the same technology. And at $1400 it is in direct competition with other lesser cameras.

Karl Marx predicted that as capitalism entered its final phase it would be fantastically productive with a few giant corporations reaching for monopoly by killing off their competitors. In the process product life cycles would get shorter and shorter and each new model would seem to offer more for less. This never-ending cycle of new model and rapid obsolescence can make a customer nervous. In this cycle when is the right time to buy?

Now that digital camera technology is mature the differences between models are more evolutionary than revolutionary and, as with motor cars, the bargains are to be had just after the announcement of a new model.

The retail market is also fiercely competitive and there are some astonishing price reductions in the shops. Just a few months ago when dpexpert reviewed the Sony Cybershot V3 we found it to be an outstanding camera but offering poor value for money at a retail price of $1499. Since then Sony has dropped the RRP to $1099 which makes the V3 superb value for money -- the best of the optical viewfinder cameras on the market. But never mind $1099 -- the Sony V3 is now being advertised for $800. Those who paid $1500 will be disgruntled, but those paying $800 are getting the bargain of a lifetime. Why has Sony dropped the price? It seems to be their practice to test their customers’ brand loyalty and then to go after those for whom brand is not as important as function.

There are a couple of ways to assess the value of a camera and to have as much knowledge as the salesman. One is to check with the manufacturer’s Australian web site for their RRPs which helps to work out the discounts on offer in the shops. Canon, Olympus, Panasonic, Sony and Konica Minolta are amongst the makers with their own .au sites. Nikon is distributed by Maxwell Photographics and Pentax by C R Kennedy.

The camera review web site www.dpreview.com lists virtually all digital cameras ever released with their announcement or release dates. Any camera model that has been on the market for a year or more is due for replacement. Often dpreview will have news of forthcoming model replacements and retailers are understandably anxious to clear any stock that is in danger of obsolescence.

Never forget the immortal words of Woody Allen: “In my family, the biggest sin was to buy retail.”

*

Posted by terry at 09:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 03, 2005

[ KONICA MINOLTA sample photos ]

DPEXPERT CURRENTLY HAS THE KONICA MINOLTA Z5 under review and we have checked with Z5 owner Barbara Matheson to see how she likes the camera. Because of her interest in native flora and insects she is particularly impressed with the two stage macro on the Z5. Press the macro button once and it turns on standard macro. Press it again and the camera sets to Super Macro, the lens automatically sets to the optimum zoom and the closest focussing distance is a remarkable 1cm. Have a look at some of Barbara's closeups.

We took the Z5 around Sydney harbour at night, exploring the possibilities for panoramas — four images stitched together here — and for playing with the harbour lights.



The lights were irresistible — a slow shutter speed and a quick tilt...

A FULL REVIEW OF THE KONICA MINOLTA Z5 will be posted here shortly.
*

Posted by terry at 10:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack