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November 28, 2005
[ ONE COLLECTION OF STUNNING PHOTOS ]
SHIRLEY PLOWRIGHT's photos have appeared in the dpexpert gallery before and attracted a lot of favourable — and envious — comment.
Have a look at the new collection of superb photos taken in Australia and Nepal with her Nikon D70.
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Posted by terry at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2005
[ CUSTOMISING CHRISTMAS ]
Twas the night before Christmas and you hadn’t got around to sending out the cards to the pals you haven’t seen in years. Shame!
It’s not too late to zap the said pals a Christmas e-card. There are on-line services that will do the job, including the one provided by Your ABC. There are a few attractive Australian ecards with Aboriginal motifs on Aunty's web site. These make a nice alternative to the inappropriate snow themes offered by the American ecard services. And they are terrifically politically correct.
Just fill in the email details and put a suitable message in the box and press the zap button and a just-in-time greeting turns up in the pal’s inbox.
Users of Microsoft Outlook Express can create e-cards directly in the email client, using the html formatting option. Outlook Express has a trick up its sleeve. Sound files can be attached to play when the email is opened -- but only in Outlook Express! To add a background sound click on Format/Background/Sound and choose a sound file, preferably a MIDI to keep it small enough for transmission. There are a number of web sites offering Outlook Express Christmas stationery, some with sounds. Just Google “Outlook Express Christmas stationery.”
If you’ve planned ahead and have time to do the traditional paper thing there might be something that appeals in the Word templates offered by Microsoft.
There are a lot of attractive designs here for cards, stationery, gift cards and stickers and they are free. Mr Gates must have been touched by the moral of A Christmas Carol. There are labels for your home made jam and olive oil. Invitations and place cards. In fact just about anything you can imagine needing in the way of Yuletide stationery. The designs are contemporary, which sets them apart from a lot of commercial template designs which look very American 1970s.
The Microsoft templates are generally intended for use with pre-cut labels, cards and stickers of the type that can be bought at office supply shops.
The Australian Consumers Association, on their Choice web site, provide step by step instructions for creating cards using Microsoft Word.
dpexpert prefers the DIY approach to Christmas card design. We like to think that our cards will be unique so we do it in Photoshop and there are templates available, mostly free, at the Adobe Studio Exchange [registration required] This site is a place where designers offer their templates for Adobe software, such as Photoshop, InDesign, PageMaker, Illustrator and so on. It is mosty, but not always, free. Once again the themes tend to be more appropriate for the northern hemisphere.
There are a number of sources for free Christmas TrueType fonts and clip art that can be found by typing “Christmas fonts” or “Christmas clip art” into Google. There is some specifically Australian clip art Ausmania.
When it comes to printing choose a paper that has weight and class and is printable on both sides -- or at least it should not have the maker’s brand printed on what will be the inside of the card.
dpexpert highly recommends the Ilford Smooth Heavyweight Matte paper, which is brilliant white, 200gsm and double-sided. It comes with instructions for setting the appropriate profile in all inkjet printers. Results from an Epson Stylus Photo R2400 are excellent. Photos come up particularly well. Because the paper is thick it needs to be scored along fold lines, for which we find a pizza cutter the ideal tool! The Ilford paper comes in boxes of 50 A4 sheets and costs $26.60
At dpexpert we create a card that is 210mm wide and 100mm high to fit in a DL envelope of which there are posh varieties on sale at office supply places and department stores.
One final consideration … many charities depend on sales of Christmas cards for part of their income. We wouldn’t like to think that DIY greeting cards are diddling Oxfam, UNICEF or whatever out of needed support. Do the right thing!
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Posted by terry at 08:03 AM | Comments (0)
[ REVIEW—PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-FZ30 ]
Price: $1100
Rating: 4 stars
The low-down: The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 digital camera has an 8.0 megapixel sensor and a 12x Optical Zoom with an “extended optical zoom” function (the recorded area on the sensor is reduced to, in effect, increase the focal length of the lens -- it’s a clever trade off of pixels for extra magnification).
The Leica f2.8–3.7 zoom lens has a range from 35–420mm, film equivalent, and is image stabilised. It is a magnificent piece of optics delivering good resolution, contrast and colour.
What makes this lens special is that it has manual focus and zoom rings and the overall dimensions of the lens remain constant throughout the zoom range. This is the mark of a superior lens. There are still some functions on a camera that ought to be analogue and lens control is one.
The viewfinder should also be analogue and here the FZ30 fails. It has an electronic viewfinder which has the usual low resolution display that gives no information about the distribution of tones in the image.
The swivelling LCD screen, however, is exceptional in resolution and accuracy of image rendition.
The FZ30 produces images with amazing detail and excellent exposure and white balance.
Like some other Panasonic cameras (and the Leica models made by Panasonic) there is more picture noise than in other brands.
Like this: The combination of Leica lens, image stabilisation and 8 mp sensor produces high resolution images. We made A3+ prints from pictures taken with the FZ30 and they show great detail and good tonal range.
Dislike that: The absence of an optical viewfinder is a pity. Picture noise is present at all ISO speeds.
Parting shot: The Panasonic Lumix FZ30 is in the camera category occupied by the Canon Powershot Pro 1 and the forthcoming Sony DSC-R1. The competition is stiff and the Sony also has manual zoom and focus rings. The Sony has features that make it the killer in the category, but it will be more expensive. Shop carefully!
Posted by terry at 07:51 AM | Comments (1)
November 15, 2005
[REVIEW—EPSON STYLUS PHOTO R2400 inkjet printer ]
Price: $1800
Rating: 4.5 stars
The low-down: The Epson Stylus Photo R2400 inkjet printer is the company’s top of the range A3 plus printer using the long life Ultrachrome K3 inks. These are pigment inks, rather than the dye inks that are more common in inkjet printers and that are susceptible to fading. The Ultrachrome inks, used with Epson’s own paper, have a promised life of over 100 years stored in ideal conditions.
The R2400 uses ten ink cartridges altogether, with 8 installed at any one time -- the usual CYMK plus Light Light Black, Light Magenta, Light Cyan, Light Black. Photo Black is used for glossy paper and Matte Black for specialist matte papers. Replacement cost for a full set of cartridges is $214. Not cheap, but they only need to be replaced one at a time as they run out.
This printer is not for the technophobe. To produce the best results -- which are breathtaking -- it is essential to understand how Photoshop communicates with a printer. Our first attempt to produce a print was a disaster and we realised that we needed to come to terms with the assignment of colour profiles.
Simply creating a perfect image on the monitor and pressing Print won’t do the job. It is necessary to go to Epson Downloads to find the right workflow instruction set for the printer and operating system. It’s complicated but it is worth it.
Like this: The prints! They have richness and vibrancy. Sumptuous is the best word. Resolution is not quite as acute as the best Canon printers, but this is probably the trade-off for using the long life pigment inks.
Dislike that: The user manual is an html file on disc. This is cheap! And for an expensive and complex piece of equipment is simply unacceptable. This is what cost the printer half a star.
The Epson is slow to start printing compared with the best Canon units.
Parting shot: The Epson Stylus Photo R2400 is a superb machine. It is highly recommended to anyone considering the transition from the darkroom to the PC.
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Posted by terry at 02:44 PM | Comments (1)
[ REVIEW—CANON EOS 5D ]
CANON EOS 5D
Price: $5500 (body only)
Rating: 5
The lowdown: The Canon EOS 5D is a 12.8 megapixel digital single lens reflex. It uses a full frame CMOS sensor -- that is, the same area as a 35mm film frame. Lesser single lens reflex digital cameras have sensors that are approximately 2/3 the size of a film frame.
Body construction of the 5D is metal and the camera is heavy (810 grams) but well balanced in the hand. All controls are well placed and intuitive in operation for anyone who has used a digital camera. The viewfinder is large and bright with all the necessary exposure information displayed below the image.
Controls are well damped. Focus is quick and accurate. Images are well exposed and clean of noise, even using the 1600 ISO setting. In fact the H setting -- which is 3200 ISO -- produces remarkable photos with much less noise than there is grain in film of the same speed.
The Canon 5D sits between the 8 mp 20D, with the smaller sensor, and the 16 mp 1Ds professional range which also employs the full frame CMOS sensor.
In spite of the large image file size burst mode shooting is a joy and the files are written to the Compact Flash memory card almost as fast as they are taken.
There is no built in flash. The man from Canon tells us: “This is a real camera!” The implication being that pop-up flashes are for sissies. Anyway with such astonishing 1600 ISO ability a flash won’t be called for all that often.
Like this: The images from this camera are simply sensational. Fine detail is faithfully resolved. Colours, except under some artificial light, are true. More than 20 camera functions can be customised and there is fine tuning for colour space, colour and tone curves and so on. The only thing that the Canon lacks is a self-cleaning sensor filter.
Dislike that: The price!
Parting shot: The Canon EOS 5D gets a 5 star rating because, measured against its intended purpose, it is perfect. There is a feeling about this camera that no matter how fast the technology evolves this one is as near future proof as possible. At 12.8 megapixels the sensor now is probably close to the resolving power of any lens. Very highly recommended to the lucky few.
There are sample images from the Canon EOS 5D in the Gallery >>
Posted by terry at 02:30 PM | Comments (2)
November 04, 2005
[ CANON 5D sample images ]
THE CANON 5D 12 megapixel digital single lens reflex is currently on test. First impressions of the camera are overhwelmingly positive. The full frame CMOS sensor does seem to deliver extraordinary detail.
There are a few preliminary test photos in the Gallery.
A full review of the camera will follow soon. Watch this space!
Posted by terry at 06:25 PM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2005
[ EPSON ACULASER C2600N colour laser printer ]
Price: $1,659
Rating: 4 stars
The low-down: The Epson Aculaser C2600N is a colour laser printer that uses four toner cartridges – black, cyan, magenta and yellow. Epson rate the resolution of the printer at 2400 dpi using the company’s “resolution improvement technology.” The subjective impression is of continuous tone printing.
The C2600N is fast – 30ppm in monochrome and 7.5ppm in colour. Periodically the printer pauses to do something or other which can be disconcerting. But overall performance is excellent. However, the complex paper path and the extreme heat in the printer cause some distortion of the paper.
The first impression of the printer is that it is very heavy. At 37 kilograms it can’t be handled by one person.
The instruction manual comes on disc in html form which is cheapskatery for such an expensive printer. It is necessary to consult the manual before trying to install the four cartridges.
Cartridges are expensive: $106 for black and $250 for each of the colour units. Epson claims 5,000 pages from a set of cartridges which they reckon works out at 17 cents an A4 print with 5 per cent colour coverage. This compares well with colour photocopying from a printing service. The quote we were given for 250 copies was 70 cents per copy.
Like this: The image quality from the Epson, on premium laser paper with high opacity and whiteness, is outstanding. It is comparable with good quality magazine reproduction. Photographs come up exceptionally well with accurate colour and no suggestion of banding or grain.
Dislike that: The Epson is noisy in operation. And the periodic pausing to clear its throat is accompanied with some truly alarming noises.
It is difficult to get the computer and the printer to agree on paper size and type and the tray from which it is to be loaded. When the settings are not to its liking in any one respect the printer insists that it has a paper jam even when it doesn’t.
Parting shot: The Epson Aculaser C2600N is a fine high volume printer. Its application is clearly as a substitute for commercial colour photocopying or printing. For print runs of up to 1000 copies it has economy in its favour. It is certainly not an alternative to a high quality inkjet photo printer, but its colour image output is excellent for brochures, newsletters etc. Think of it as a colour printing press for the home, office or shop.
Posted by terry at 07:35 AM | Comments (0)
[ ACDSee8 Photo manager ]
Price: $50 [US] from www.acdsystems.com/
Rating: 4.5 stars
The goods: ACDSee8 Photo Manager is the latest version of a photo cataloguing and editing program at what we might call the elementary end of image editing software. It is for people who want an application that will recognise a camera attached to the computer, download the files and provide basic manipulation functions.
What makes ACDSee8 special is that the editing functions are fundamentally quite advanced but they can also be used in simple automated routines. In fact ACDSee8, at $50 US, is not far off the function set of Adobe Photoshop Elements ($152).
ACDSee8 has such advanced functions as Levels and Healing/Clone brushes. It also runs batch routines for renaming, reorienting or fixing brightness and contrast. Surprisingly for such an economical package the program can display and control hue and saturation and it does a very good black and white conversion with a single click on a Grayscale (pardon the American spelling) button.
There is a free add-on for the program that creates slide shows as MPG movies or as Flash slide routines for inserting into web pages. This is an impressive and useful function that is totally unexpected in a program at this price.
Using ACDSee8 pictures can be uploaded as a slide show to the on-line gallery ACD SendPix and emails are sent to anyone invited to view the show. This service is free to ACDSee customers and is just about the ideal way of quickly sharing holiday or family snaps.
Like this: ACDSee8 and all its functions work blindingly quickly. It is so fast that the program can well be used as a default image viewer.
Dislike that: There is nothing to dislike about ACDSee8, although it is possible to see some functions that might be added without increasing the cost. A selection of cute picture frames and mattes would make a nice plug-in.
Parting shot: This little program represents extraordinary value for money. For many people it will provide all the tools necessary to rescue or improve digital images. It goes beyond the crude automated routines of most freeware or cheap commercial programs. ACDSee8 is highly recommended.
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Posted by terry at 07:25 AM | Comments (3)
[ DIGITAL’S NEXT VICTIM ]
Digital technology continues to cut a swathe through the businesses built on chemical-based photography. First Kodak was forced to sack thousands of workers at its plants around the world as demand for film and chemical processing dropped. Photo processing shops around Australia started to close as amateur photographers printed their own photos or used the internet or CD and DVD as their preferred display media.
Now the photographic firm of Agfa is bankrupt. The announcement in May that the company AgfaPhoto had filed for bankruptcy protection sent a chill through the company’s world operations. Then this month DW-World reports that the company will probably cease to exist by the end of the year.
Australian photo processors, including Woolworths, that have Agfa machines and processes installed in their stores now looking for alternative suppliers. Woolworths has Agfa processing kiosks in 115 of its Big-W stores.
Agfa made a half-hearted attempt to make the transition from chemicals to digital but their cameras were uninspiring and never sold in sufficient numbers to save the company. Then they moved the focus of their business onto the supply of processing machines, paper and chemicals, but that also failed to revive the ailing company’s fortunes.
Agfa has its origins in Germany in 1867 and marketed its first colour film in 1936. Until Fuji became a market force Agfa was the alternative to the dominant player, Kodak. Unlike Ilford, which has reacted to the change in photographic technology by using its paper making expertise to move into the production of superior inkjet papers, Agfa appears to have misjudged the size and permanence of the digital tidal wave.
On another front in the digital transition, even though digital camera sales are booming the benefit has not flowed to the smaller suburban camera shops. Electrical goods retailers like K Mart, Dick Smith, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and RetraVision along with specialist computer shops are eating into the traditional business of the small camera shop.
Robert Heim, director of the retail buying group Just Picture It, says that the traditional camera shop is being squeezed at both ends of the business. “Profit margins on digital cameras are very low and the small shop doesn’t have the other departments selling whitegoods, computers, electrical appliances and furnishings over which the entire cost of running the store can be amortised.
“At the other end the demand for 35mm film and photo finishing services has dropped because photographers are getting their emotional kick instantly from the LCD screen on the camera and many photos that are taken are not being printed.
“A few of the big city camera stores are doing well from selling digital cameras but out in the suburbs the camera shops are missing out on the benefits of the boom.”
The small, individual traders can also be hurt by the catalogue advertising of bigger stores and franchise groups. In June this year the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found that the franchise group IT Warehouse had advertised in its catalogues “a number of Nikon digital cameras as being available for sale from its stores. However, many IT Warehouse stores had stock levels which were inadequate, or non-existent, and in any event were disproportionate to the discounted price and the level of the promotion.
“The ACCC believed the representations in the catalogues were misleading and deceptive…”
IT Warehouse gave an undertaking to cease and desist but by that time the retailers who brought the complaint had already lost business.
The new technology has created new opportunities and new victims at the same time.
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Posted by terry at 07:24 AM | Comments (3)
November 02, 2005
[ NIKON D200 digital slr announced ]
Maxwell Optical Industries, Nikon's Australian distributor, this week announced the release of the 10-Megapixel Nikon D200 Digital SLR.
This camera will replace the three year old D100 and will sit between the D70 and the much more expensive professional cameras. It will be a natural competitor for the Canon 20D, not for the 5D as some people expected.
The media release says: "Nikon Corporation and Australian distributor Maxwell Optical Industries are pleased to announce the introduction of the D200. Combining newly-developed Nikon technologies with advanced features, the D200 is a precision-engineered, high-performance digital SLR designed to satisfy the requirements of passionate and demanding photographers.
"Employing a new 10.2 effective megapixel Nikon DX Format CCD image sensor, and featuring Nikon's exclusive image processing engine and image-optimising functionality, the D200 captures images with sharp detail and faithful colour to deliver extraordinary resolution that supports significant image enlargement and enables greater freedom for creative cropping.
"This image sensor also incorporates high-speed 4-channel data output and features a new Optical Low Pass Filter, significantly reducing the incidence of moiré as well as colour fringing and shifting. Furthermore, 4-channel output allows the D200 to adopt the advanced image-processing engine of the D2x, which combines colour-independent preconditioning prior to A/D conversion with advanced digital image processing algorithms, to deliver fine colour gradations with satisfyingly smooth, consistent transitions.
"Equipped with Nikon’s exclusive 1005-pixel 3D Colour Matrix Metering II, the D200 seamlessly determines ideal exposures, even in complex lighting conditions. Capturing scene elements including brightness, contrast and colour content with a 1005-pixel RGB-enabled sensor, this advanced system employs improved algorithms for even better evaluation of highlight and shadow detail, and an onboard database of over 30,000 images to evaluate against the content of each scene.
"The D-200 is even compatible with (non-CPU) Nikkor F-mount lenses. The user simply dials in focal length and aperture information, and the camera does the rest!
Responsive
"Handling response is exceptional. With power-up in a mere 0.15 seconds, a remarkable shutter lag of only 50 milliseconds and a shortened viewfinder blackout time of just 105 milliseconds, the D200 excels in the capture of fleeting or unexpected moments. Combined with high-speed continuous shooting capability at up to 5fps, and continuous bursts of up to 37 JPEG (Fine-large) images* or 22 shots* in NEF (RAW) format, the D200 is a perfect choice for discriminating photographers, and a natural choice for wedding, event and action specialists
*When using a SanDisk SDCFH (Ultra II) or SDCFX (Extreme III) 1GB CF card.
"For accurate autofocus across a more diverse range of compositions, the D200 features a new and highly accurate 11-area AF system in addition to its 7 wide-area AF – both of which are based on Nikon's advanced Multi-CAM 1000 AF Sensor Module. Not only does this AF system support the photographer with fast and precise autofocus under a variety of shooting conditions, but it also offers an array of functions for greater flexibility – allowing an individual area to be selected from either the 11-area AF or 7-wide area AF sensors for Single AF, or making use of multiple sensors to enable Dynamic AF, Closest Subject Priority Dynamic AF, and Group Dynamic AF.
"Complementing its excellent handling, the D200 has been created with a magnesium alloy chassis that combines light weight with durability. In addition to this, it also features an enhanced sealing system that helps protect exterior seams from potentially damaging moisture and dust. The D200 also features a large and bright viewfinder offering large 0.94x magnification to ensure the clearest view possible for precise composition, as well as built-in dioptre adjustment that allows the camera to be calibrated to the photographer’s eyesight.
"Viewing excellence is taken further with an expansive 2.5-inch high-resolution LCD that provides an ultra-wide 170˚ viewing angle from all directions. It also offers the ability to magnify images by up to 400%, to enable photographers to closely inspect fine details in their work. The LCD features a selectable RGB histogram display, which allows photographers to make better-informed exposure decisions by viewing either a composite RGB histogram, or a separate histogram for each individual colour channel.
"The D200 also features the largest top LCD panel among cameras in its class, to convey maximum information at a glance with easy access to shooting data including shooting mode, battery condition, card information, gridline display, shutter speed, F-stop and number of remaining shots"
The Nikon D200 is epected to be in the Australian shops in January. No price has been announced, but if we pay a price comparable with America then the body only should cost about $2500.
There is a hands on preview of the D200 on dpreview.com
Posted by terry at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)