AjaxNetPhoto.com Photography news and information

New telephoto and wide angle converters from Kenro

2009-10-22T16:28:00.003+01:00

Press Release: 22 October 2009

Kenro has announced the UK release of a new range of telephoto and wide angle converters from Marumi.

The converters are auxiliary lenses designed to attach onto the front of a cameras existing built in lens and enhance its telephoto or wide angle capability. 2 X magnification telephoto converters are available in 37mm, 52mm, 55mm and 58mm filter thread sizes. Marumi wide angle converters are 0.45X in 37mm filter threads and 0.5X in 52mm, 55mm and 58mm sizes.

Both the telephoto converters and the wide angle converter lenses range start with an RRP of £47.15 for the 37mm thread model, rising to £105.63 for the 58mm version.
The converters can be fitted directly to camcorder lenses depending on the filter size and can also be used with digital compact cameras by using the appropriate adaptor. These adaptors are available to fit Olympus, Nikon, Canon and Fujifilm cameras and range in price from £10.29 to £13.34.

"Now everyone can extend their telephoto and wide angle lens range for just a small outlay." says Kenro managing director, Paul Kench. "These are great for both digital compact cameras and camcorders and fit a wide range of sizes and manufacturer's models."

Kenro is the official UK distributors for the range of Marumi photographic accessories, including filters, lens hoods and flash guns. See www.kenro.co.uk for details of your nearest stockist, or call Kenro on 01793 615836 for more details.

ENDS

Kenro Ltd
Greenbridge Road
Swindon
SN3 3LH
Tel: 01793 615836
Fax: 01793 530108
E-mail: sales@kenro.co.uk
Web: www.kenro.co.uk

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Panasonic DMC-LX3 Firmware Update

2009-10-21T22:46:00.002+01:00

Panasonic Updates Firmware of DMC-LX3 for Further Improvement in Functions and Performance

A new firmware update is released for Panasonic’s premium manual compact camera DMC-LX3. Firmware version 2.1* supports several new functions and improves various performances to elevate shooting convenience and fun. The firmware also rectifies several minor issues to enhance operation.

The adoption of new algorithm makes it possible to speed up the AF time by reducing it approx.20% to 0.50 sec at wide-end. Now the 1:1 aspect ratio recording mode is added as a shooting option in addition to the conventional 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. The white balance bracket shot is available. The new scene mode High Dynamic is newly incorporated in the scene mode, which helps to capture a scene with moderate exposure even though the scene contains both bright and dark area together. You can select either of 3 options, Standard, Art, or B/W, depending on the desired effect and personal taste to make the photo look natural to artistic. The white balance adjustment performance is greatly improved especially under fluorescent lights, daytime sunlight and low light.

As well as those mentioned above, the new firmware incorporates attractive advancements for enthusiastic photographers. The exposure compensation range as well as its bracket setting is widened. The fixed composition guidelines are now movable to the intended position with the control of cursor or joystick for free framing. Over exposure part of the picture is shown not only in the preview but also in the playback mode. The lens position of zooming and manual focusing is memorized and resume at the position.

The photographer’s name can be embedded to the EXIF information of the picture and it can be confirmed via the updated PHOTOfunSTUDIO ver.2.1.

Panasonic invites all users of DMC-LX3 to apply the updated firmware. The new firmware will be available worldwide at http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/, from 21st of October, 2009.

*The ver.2.1 is the corrected version of the firmware previously released as ver.2.0.

-ends-

Reader enquiry number: 0844 844 3852
For further editorial information, please contact:
Tanya Frost
E-mail: tanya.frost@eu.panasonic.com
Tel: 01344 853552
Fax: 01344 853081
Panasonic UK, Panasonic House, Willoughby Road, Bracknell Berks RG12 8FP

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

New wireless flash kits from Kenro

2009-07-28T21:10:00.002+01:00

News Release from Kenro Ltd - Date: 28 July 2009

Kenro has announced the UK release of a new range of wireless transmitter and receiver kits designed to trigger studio lighting flash heads.

These new additions to Kenro's wide range of photographic equipment feature either mains or battery powered units. Each system comes with a radio signal transmitter and receiver that offer effective triggering of flash heads up to distances of 30m. The kits consist of a sender module which operates from a camera hot shoe or synch cable. They are available in four channel or eight channel kits.

"Our new flash triggers are ideal for photographers looking for a cost effective way to reduce the wiring in their studio or when on location. Due to the multi channel function, they are particularly suited to the event or wedding photographer who wants to avoid external flashes triggering the studio lights." says Kenro managing director, Paul Kench.

The four channel battery version has the product code, FERF604D and carries an RRP of £63.50 and the mains system is available for £58.50 with a product code FERF604.
The eight channel battery version has the product code, FERF608D and carries an RRP of £66.75 and the mains system is available for £67.50 with a product code FERF608.
Spare receivers are also available, with the four channel battery model costing £21.50 and the mains version £19.95. The eight channel battery model costing £23.50 and the mains version £21.50. All Prices quoted are plus Vat.

See www.kenro.co.uk for details of your nearest stockist, or call Kenro on 01793 615836 for more details.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Kodak Retires KODACHROME Film

2009-06-22T23:50:00.002+01:00

LONDON UK, June 22, 2009

Eastman Kodak Company announced today that it will retire KODACHROME colour film this year, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon.

Sales of KODACHROME Film, which became the world’s first commercially successful colour film in 1935, have declined dramatically in recent years as photographers turned to other, newer KODAK films or to the digital imaging technologies that Kodak pioneered. Today, KODACHROME Film represents just a fraction of one percent of Kodak’s total sales of still-picture films.

“KODACHROME Film is an iconic product and a testament to Kodak’s long and continuing leadership in imaging technology,” said Mary Jane Hellyar, President of Kodak’s Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group. "It was certainly a difficult decision to retire it, given its rich history. However, the majority of today's photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology – both film and digital. Kodak remains committed to providing the highest-performing products – both film and digital – to meet those needs."

While Kodak now derives about 70% of its revenues from commercial and consumer digital businesses, it is the global leader in the film business. Kodak has continued to bring innovative new film products to market, including seven new professional still films and several new VISION2 and VISION3 motion picture films in the last three years. These new still film products are among those that have become the dominant choice for those professional and advanced amateur photographers who use KODAK Films.

Among the well-known professional photographers who used KODACHROME Film is Steve McCurry, whose picture of a young Afghan girl captured the hearts of millions of people around the world as she peered hauntingly from the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1985.

As part of a tribute to KODACHROME Film, Kodak will donate the last rolls of the film to George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, N.Y., which houses the world’s largest collection of cameras and related artifacts. McCurry will shoot one of those last rolls and the images will be donated to Eastman House.

“The early part of my career was dominated by KODACHROME Film, and I reached for that film to shoot some of my most memorable images,” said McCurry. “While KODACHROME Film was very good to me, I have since moved on to other films and digital to create my images. In fact, when I returned to shoot the ‘Afghan Girl’ 17 years later, I used KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film E100VS to create that image, rather than KODACHROME Film as with the original.”

For all of its magic, KODACHROME is a complex film to manufacture and an even more complex film to process. There is only one remaining photofinishing lab in the world – Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas – that processes KODACHROME Film, precisely because of the difficulty of processing. This lack of widespread processing availability, as well as the features of newer films introduced by Kodak over the years, has accelerated the decline of demand for KODACHROME Film.

During its run, KODACHROME Film filled a special niche in the annals of the imaging world. It was used to capture some of the best-known photographs in history, while also being the film of choice for family slide shows of the Baby Boom generation.

To celebrate the film’s storied history, Kodak has created a gallery of iconic images, including the Afghan girl and other McCurry photos, as well as others from professional photographers Eric Meola and Peter Guttman on its website: www.kodak.com/go/kodachrometribute. Special podcasts featuring McCurry and Guttman will also be featured on the website.

Kodak estimates that current supplies of KODACHROME Film will last until early this autumn at the current sales pace. Dwayne’s Photo has indicated it will continue to offer processing for the film through 2010. Current KODACHROME Film users are encouraged to try other KODAK Films, such as KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME E100G and EKTAR 100 Film. These films both feature extremely fine grain. For more information, please visit www.kodak.com/go/professional.

About Kodak
As the world's foremost imaging innovator, Kodak helps consumers, businesses, and creative professionals unleash the power of pictures and printing to enrich their lives.

To learn more, visit http://www.kodak.com and follow our blogs and more at http://www.kodak.com/go/followus.

More than 70 million people worldwide manage, share and create photo gifts online at KODAK Gallery --join for free today at www.kodakgallery.com

(Kodak, Kodachrome, Kodak Professional, Ektachrome and Ektar are trademarks.)

2009

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Pushing the envelope

2009-06-15T22:39:00.015+01:00

Panasonic's development of the four-thirds sensor format (17x13mm approx.) continues apace with the DMC -G1 and its HD video endowed sibling, the GH1. Both cameras are fitted with the latest LIVEMos sensor developed by Panasonic in partnership with Olympus Optical Co Ltd.

1. The new Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera E-P1. The company promises further developments for this format and one can hope there might be an all black version, preferably in Urushi lacquer.

Thus far, products from both companies deliver an extraordinary level of equipment and image sophistication for their sensor size, although it is apparent that both also arrive at visibly different levels of image aesthetic and technical quality.

2. This was made on the Panasonic G1 at approximately four times life size using an old Visoflex mirror box, a set of M bellows and the lens head from of an Elmarit f/2.8 90mm (first launched in 1959.). The image is exceptionally micro-detailed and sharp right in the centre of the full size image.

I have limited experience of exploring files from Olympus kit. It includes hands-on an OM e400 and subsequent screen use and printing from that model; handling and inspection of large scale prints (A2) out of an e3 and whenever possible, assessing mechanical print reproduction of OM digital files from the earliest days of the e10 through e1 to the present time. Much more hands-on experience has been gained from reviewing all the models produced by Panasonic.

Each of the 4/3rds models so far produced by this company, the L1, L10 (as well as the rebadged Leica Digilux versions.) and now the G series, have some attractive features. These include - for the L1 and L10 - the excellent performance of the 25mm f/1.4 Summilux designed for use on those two models and more recently, high marks for the new Micro four-thirds 7-14mm Lumix Vario f4.

3. Arrival of a new warship on a really crap sea-misty morning. G1 with Lumix 14-45mm kit lens at ISO 200 captured in highest quality Jpeg mode. The image is sharp all over but small details are compromised by compression when enlarged. Noise levels at this ISO are also noticeably higher and far patchier than for equivalent ISO rated frames made on an APS-C/DX sensor.

4. Detail of a section of the side of the ship (5) when viewed at 100%. The noise patchiness is more apparent. In reproduction on the page, the effect is visible.

Another attraction of the L1 is its unique styling and very high build quality. A pity the designer and engineers decided not to incorporate weather proof sealing for the tough magnesium alloy body; I think that would have made the model more attractive for professional use. As ever however, retail cost was already high compared with some other similarly specified products and sealing the L1 would have just pushed the numbers over the edge.

The L10 didn't grab the attention in the same way and while it produces a high level of image quality, I felt it lacked substance. Then along came the G1; Panasonic's first attempt at the Micro 4/3rds lens mount concept with integral electronic viewfinder.

Smaller still than the L10 and lacking a mirror box and opto-mechanical viewing system, the G1 is a compact with interchangeable lens facility. It is very well engineered using an outer magnesium alloy shell but still lacking the all-weather sealing which can be found on some Dslrs. Despite this, it's a real joy to use, although some buttons and dials could do with a little ergonomic improvement.

As it stands, the G1 might almost fit the perfect shape and size requirement of many users. Together with the appropriate downsizing of lenses made for it, the current full kit offering 7mm - 200mm focal length coverage spread between three objectives seems lost in a medium sized gadget bag.

For some, these relatively lightweight Lumix lenses will cover all their needs. The super wide angle zoom is a particularly interesting piece of kit capable of returning exceptional image results. However, not content to let it rest there, Panasonic engineers have beavered away to produce a set of three lens adapters to enable the mounting of regular 4/3rds and Leica M and R type objectives on the camera which, in the case of the latter two, also retain the G1's 'manual focus assist' feature; a device which enlarges a small central segment of the screen image and upon which it is possible to refine focus whenever the focus ring of an appropriate lens is touched.

With these three adapters, the facility to employ a wide range of objectives of different brands is already in place. Further internet investigation reveals dozens more mechanical lens adapters which may also be used in combination with Panasonic's own to allow the mounting of a vast range of glass of many different focal lengths and marque. Users with armouries of Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta, not to mention many independent brands, can all enjoy the benefits now offered.

I have found this to be a fascinating experience and during two lengthy review periods, explored the possibilities offered by my own collection of Leica glass mounted on the G1 using a cheap but well made adapter from China for the R type lenses and the VM adapter from Voigtlander for the Leica M glass. Some of these lenses produced outstanding results; others less so, proving yet again that all digital capture devices need prime cuts of glass for the technology to perform at its highest level.

Not suprisingly perhaps, the performance obtained from some older Leica R telephoto lenses was lacking. In particular, the 1970 Telyt-R 250mm f/4, while capable of obtaining wonderfully smooth toned medium contrast images on 35mm Kodachrome, has such a high level of chromatic aberration, nothing obtained with it on the G1's 4/3rds sensor looked good enough for use beyond half a page on glossy magazine paper. The Telyt-R 400mm f/6.8 on the other hand, produced a usable result wide open; on 4/3rds format, the focal length equates to 800mm.

So far, good results have been obtained with a Summicron-R (1976)50mm f/2, the 1975 Apo-Telyt-R 180mm f/3.4, Summicron 90mm f/2 (for M) and Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH, although the earlier version also produced a nicely rounded quality when stopped down to f/4.0. The Summilux-R 80mm f/1.4 struggled to get anything sharp except right in the centre of the image but stopping it down to f/2-2.8 brought improvements. The large aperture of this lens is useful in low light situations but for sheer handiness, the extra reach it offers and good image quality mark, the 90mm-M f/2 (and later ASPH version.) makes a useful 180mm.

When I mention 'good' in respect of image results I refer to a quality, which, in my subjective analyses of both screen and print reproductions, visibly exceeds results of similar motifs obtained with the designed-for-the-chip lenses of similar focal length. Using the Leica lenses brings an increased tonal range and with it an increase in the visibility of subtle colour hues. Sharpness of small objects in the frame is high at the point of focus and the shape and construction of the multibladed diaphragms of Leica mechanical objectives lends a more rounded shape to out-of-focus objects.

The longer Panasonic zoom lenses do produce a good high contrast result but it is not the same as from some old primes mentioned above. On the other hand, the Lumix G-Vario 7-14mm f/4 zoom gave such a fine performance, I have yet to be persuaded there is a prime lens of equivalent focal length (when used on 4/3rds.) designed for use on 35mm capable of exceeding it.

Files out of the G1 made in Fine Jpeg mode are recorded at 180ppi default resolution at 22.5 inches on the longest side. Print industry standard resolution requirement for mechanical reproduction is 300ppi despite the fact that the majority of photographs supplied for newspaper use are at 200ppi. For the purposes of magazine repro, I supply files at 300ppi, and so far the number of printed samples seen used up to DPS (A3), or an equivalent size, have pretty much matched the high expectation of them first seen on screen.

But, some problems remain.

Where motifs incorporate large areas of single or similar colour from files made at an ISO 200 - 360, noise (grain) artifacts are visibly patchy in print. This effect was not commented on by viewers I showed examples to, so for them at least, the problem was not an issue. More disturbing perhaps, are the moire effects seen in a series of motifs obtained with a G1.

5. Again, shot with the kit lens in a moment of boredom but after I had discovered the fault in 7. The moire effect discussed in the text is clearly seen here.

6. And this is it (5) as seen at a 1:1 screen level. Panasonic claims it can't be fixed.

The cause, according to Panasonic's DSC product development department, is that of the resolution of certain uniform pattern areas in the recorded motif exceeding the capacity of the camera's anti-aliasing filter to prevent moire. According to them, the filter is set at the theoretical limit of sensor resolution and lowering it would have affected the delineation and appearance of image micro detail.

This is where Olympus and Panasonic products differ. Results from the former have always struck me as being a little soft, not quite as sharp as one would like or is used to, as if a layer of something transparent has been added to the image. Small details are clearly seen but the overall effect lacks the more sharply edged appearance of large scale prints from the latter. An analogy might be the effect on print appearance similar to the one manifest by diffuser and condenser enlargers.

The trade-off in attempting to squeeze so much out of such a small sensor vacillates between these effects. One gives a very acceptable and smooth visual appearance while the other obtains a harsher (and noisier) but apparently sharper result when images from both are reproduced to the same size.

7. I made this frame out of a coach window (again, boredom.) and looked at it several times before spotting the moire effect (see red box.) caused by the even pattern and resolution of the netting. The frame wasn't made with this in mind, I was more interested in the distant ship at the time. The moire problem is one to watch out for as it could easily be manifest by any number of motif situations. Again, Panasonic were not keen to offer a solution.

8. And just in case you missed it first time around, here's the enlarged section. Frankly, if I had spent the money on this product, I'd be really pissed off by this problem. It doesn't happen with a Leica loaded with film.

When post processing is applied with care, G1 large Jpeg files can just about nudge my A3 benchmark; not with the clarity or tonal creaminess of files from a D300 or D700, nor with the more filmic edginess of what can be squeezed from a D1X. The two formats give a different image appearance. GH1 image quality differs slightly as the sensor in this model is a modified version of the G1 sensor. RAW image files from the GH are on a par with those obtained from its older sibling, but Jpeg quality is down slightly compared with the G1, and further down in comparison with similar files captured on APS formats - the result of a/d signal processing attempts to better control noise artifacts.

The G1/GH1 compact design concept offers outstanding versatility with large scale repro image quality pegged at a considerably higher level than that obtainable from much smaller sensors found in pocket compacts like the Ricoh GRII, GX and Panasonic LX models. The new Olympus Micro 4/3rds EP-1 (lead picture.) may offer improved pocketability, compared with the G1/GH, but it is again very different from those models.

Larger APS-C/DX format sensors produce excellent results for the purpose of most editorial reproduction and there can be little doubt that full frame 35mm ( equivalent) sensors are not now capable of emulating 6X4.5cm medium film format quality. Yet sophisticated small cameras have their own attractions and when these devices incorporate the technology required to deliver a good level of image quality, they invite inspection. It's how the Leica rangefinder became the tool of choice for generations of photojournalists. Perhaps now, will mark a similar beginning for micro four-thirds in the digital world.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
Copyright; Jonathan Eastland.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Tiananmen Anniversary

2009-06-09T20:37:00.002+01:00

TANK MAN DEJA VU - COLLECTS DART AWARD.

Associated Press photographer Jeff Widener's image of a lone man halting a row of military tanks in Tiananmen Square in June 1989 has become one of the few iconic news images of the 20th Century. Following the student pro-democracy uprising that was so brutally quashed by the Chinese Government, Widener's photograph made the front page of thousands of newspapers world wide.

Recently, he was invited by the BBC to return to Beijing for an anniversary interview about his experiences there two decades earlier.

"I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach when the BBC offered to fly me back. I had almost lost my life from a stray rock as demonstraters cornered a burning armored car, " said Jeff in an exclusive interview, " but a Nikon I was using absorbed the blow."

"I was rather shocked that my Chinese visa had been approved. I thought they must surely know who I am? My picture had caused the Chinese government more embarrassment than just about anything else in the last 20 years. I was concerned."

At the Jianguo Hotel where Widener and a group of other journalists had stayed in 1989, Jeff recalled events.

"The view was nothing like 1989. There were so many large office buildings and where were all the bicycles? Looking over the balcony I couldn't quite line up the same view with a 400mm lens. It looked like flag poles had been installed. Still, I could not help feeling an overwhelming sense of deja vous."

After leaving the Ap, Widener freelanced from the US mainland before joining the Honoloulou Advertiser newspaper as a staff photographer. He was recently honoured for his photographic contribution to the newspaper's seven-part investigative series telling the stories of native Hawai’ian women whose lives were forever changed by domestic violence. 'Crossing the line: Abuse in Hawai'i Homes' collected The Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma.

The awards recognize exemplary journalism on the impact of violence, crime, disaster and other traumatic events on individuals, families or communities and are team prizes, reflecting all the elements shaping an entry and contributing to its strength.

The Dart Center is a global network of journalists, journalism educators and health professionals dedicated to improving media coverage of trauma, conflict and tragedy.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
Copyright; Jonathan Eastland
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Olympus PEN Fifty years on

2009-06-04T21:38:00.003+01:00

THE BEAUTY OF BIC

The best thing about the ubiquitous biro is its simplicity.

In France, Bic is the generic name of all such writing instruments. Flip the cap off a slender yellow plastic stalk and apply to paper. Usually, it works.

In 1959, the Olympus Optical Co Ltd., launched the Pen camera; a product designed for writing with light conceived around the principle of functional simplicity in a compact but elegant package. It worked and the company made and sold hundreds of thousands of the many different models of the Pen and Pen F half frame cameras produced over the next 20 odd years.

But half frame was nothing new. Other companies, in an effort to woo more customers to the miniature 35mm film format by marketing the advantage of economy to be gained from obtaining 72 frames from a single cassette instead of the normal 36, had launched similar products. Mostly, until Olympus launched the Pen series, half frame models were built around regular full frame cameras with the film gate and viewfinder masked off to the appropriate 18X24mm format.

Two factors point to reasons why the Pen series were so successful; the cameras were simple to operate and the D type Zuiko lenses were specially designed for the task of maximising image quality from such a small area of film.

Olympus had developed new D type objectives for its earlier medium format cameras and it continued to refine this technology as it researched new products in the early post-war decades. The whole concept of compact elegance and superb functionality would probably not have worked for Yoshihisa Maitani's 1970s Olympus OM system had it not been for the company's parallel development of new compact lenses designed for that system.

Now, Olympus hope to do it all over again.

Fifty years after launching the first Pen half frame model, the company's first Micro four-thirds digital camera is about to be unveiled. A steady stream of full page advertisements featuring the 1959 Pen camera and what appears to be a box covered in red silk or velvet have already appeared in print. Some readers, no doubt, may be struggling to retain composure in the face of such taunts. You will not have long to wait; June 25th has been slated as unveiling date.

The wind-up to this event promises something extra special. I don't want or mean to be a Killjoy, but the mathematical facts point more in the direction of something coming down the tube which will not be significantly better than the Panasonic G1/GH1, the company with whom Olympus are the development partner of the LIVEMos 4/3rds format sensor.

What aficionados of the Olympus brand can probably be sure of however, is that the company's new micro four-thirds camera will be blessed with a styling 'wow' factor. Will it be close to or mimic the revolutionary products like the Pen of 1959 or the Pen F launched in 1963?

The more I think about this aspect and the maths, the more I deviate away from the whole half frame (digital four-thirds.) concept. The Panasonic G1 styling is appealing for lots of reasons, not least of which is that the camera fits snugly and firmly in the hand. From an operational perspective however, the placement and size of certain function buttons compromises its aim to be small,compact, appealing and efficient.

What I would like to have seen coming from Olympus is a replica OM body into which has been shoehorned the electronic gubbins. Maitani's thinking produced a device that was approximately 30% smaller than a regular 1970s slr but the functionality of it was not impaired by its size or shape. If anything, it was enhanced. A Bic in another world.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
Copyright; Jonathan Eastland
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Compact Companions - Part IV

2009-05-31T15:09:00.014+01:00

POTATOES, LAMPBLACK AND TWO TAXI - CABS.

I had hoped to come back to this subject long before now, but other projects and a slow down on the technology front connived to postpone attempts to tackle any remaining issues.

To sum up briefly, it is reasonably clear from reproductions seen in mechanical print to date that derivatives of the compact digital camera models discussed previously, i.e. Ricoh GRII, GX200 and Panasonic LX3 (aka Leica D-Lux 4) are all capable of producing excellent image file quality for repro to a moderate size.

In particular, the LX3 with built in firmware for the correction of lens distortion, chromatic and spherical aberration, does an excellent job, only let down by comparison with the other two, by its weaker ergonomic features. In that department, both Ricoh cameras stand head and shoulders above the rest as well as, the Sigma DP1 which I will come to shortly.

REPRO QUALITY

I have mentioned in a previous post that when my own history of reproductions is analysed, by far the highest number appear on the page at up to half page size - roughly A5 or, as is often the case these days, a lot smaller. The reasons for this are numerous but a general observation often points toward the page layout person having to grapple with the compromise of balancing headlines, standfirsts and text on the page. The latter has to go in, a picture doesn't and if it does, usually its purpose is illustrative rather than because of any artistic merit.

(1) GX200_PIER.

This is the whole frame made with the Ricoh GX200 at ISO 100 in fine Jpeg mode at 10.9mm focal length on the zoom lens.

(2) GX200_DET_1.

Section cropped from the original image (1) upscaled to 18ins (45cms) on the longest side.

(3) GX200_DET_2.

Second section from image (1) at the same dimension as in (2). Neither crop shows any particular fragging or mashing to small details which would show up in repro yet the smallest details are lacking in clarity and sharpness. Noise is plainly visible in the larger areas of single toned hues.

In Sweden last year, I covered a story for one magazine with a Dslr and two lenses, a prime standard and a wide angle. I also carried a Leica film camera fitted with a 50mm standard and took along the Ricoh GRII.

The Leica never got used and the majority of shots required for two four page issues were obtained with the Nikon or the Ricoh. When the first issue appeared in print, it opened with a full page pick-up shot captured underwater with an Olympus compact in a housing. I couldn't really fault the quality for sharpness or contrast, and other than wondering what Hans and Lotte Hass would have made of it all, flipped to the remaining pages. The editor had chosen half page images from the Ricoh while a few files from the Nikon were dropped in as small inserts. A similar approach was used in the follow-up issue; nothing of mine was used larger than half a page and even with a lupe on the stuff from the compact, differentiating between the far higher quality obtained from the Nikon's larger sensor and the diminutive Ricoh sensor was a tough call.

(4) GRD2 VISBY

The whole scene as captured with the Ricoh GRII at ISO 100, focal length fixed 28mm, exposure aperture f/5.6.

(5) GRD2 DET 1.

Cropped section from bottom right of the whole frame enlarged to 18ins (45cms) on the longest side (suitable for A3 repro.).

(6) GRD2 DET 2.

Second cropped section taken from top left of image. There is less apparent noise overall in this image but the window frames and plank seams are beginning to take on the typical mashed appearance of a Jpeg pushed a little too far, though only really noticeable in the lighter parts of the image. The original frames will reproduce very nicely at half a page with a 133-155 screen and will hold together up to 1 1/4 A4 pages. Beyond this, image structure falls apart, leaving little room in the original for cropping unless the crop is to be used small.

Only in a later issue of the same magazine did it become apparent that it was perhaps unwise to supply image files from the Ricoh intended to be used as a double page (A3) spread. At this level of upscaling, an image originally captured in fine Jpeg mode and then cropped by about 30% was pushing things to the limit. From a little more than the normal reading distance (10 inches/ 25 cms), the smallish details in the reproduced image were well mashed; from double this reading distance, the smudge was just about passable, but no where near as clear, sharp or detailed as it really needed to be.

I have since found another way (not new software) to upscale these tiny jpeg image files which brings a slight improvement to the reproduced quality. Also, upscaled RAW files obtained with the LX3 fair rather better than those from the Ricoh and on a much earlier occasion a cropped Jpeg file from an LX2 used across two pages, probably proved beyond any doubt that as good as the Ricoh files are, the Panasonic A/D conversion process is better.

So now, the conundrum for me comes down to ergonomics and in this repsect, both Ricohs win. So much so, that I find the GRII lives on a string around my neck much of the time. I rarely leave base without it.

But, as is often said in the field of some sports, 'it's not over 'til it's over.'.

A ten day assignment in France last year gave me the opportunity to thrash the newly launched Sigma DP1 with its fixed 16.6mm (28mm in 35mm format equivalent.) f/4 lens, and since, I have seen some of the results in print.

The camera uses Sigma's own Foveon X3 CMOS sensor (20.7mmX13.8mm) housed in a device approximately the same size as the Ricoh GRII. The DP1 is a very well made piece of kit with an all metal outer casing. However, users will need some time to adjust to its slinky feel and I cannot say the designer put ergonomics at the top of the list when coming to draw this tool. A pity, as it just needs more pronounced features on one end to improve the hand holding. I also had some minor issues with function controls, but it seems patience is what is really required to set the thing up properly in the first place.

While slotting perfectly in to the 'compact' bracket, the DP1 is really in a different league from the brands mentioned; it is also at a different (higher) price level.

The three layer CMOS sensor is not quite the same size as the APS-C type found in many Dslrs, but it is much larger - 7-12 times - than sensors in the majority of small compact digital cameras, including those already mentioned. In Jpeg mode, the camera produces a file size of approximately 13mb, 14.6 inches on its longest side at a native resolution of 180ppi. The aspect ratio is 3:2 which is a little narrow for my taste compared with the more pleasing proportions of the 4:3 of the Ricoh.

(7) DP1 SD10148 1

The whole scene captured on the Sigma DP1 at ISO 100 and aperture f/5.6 in fine Jpeg mode with fixed 16.6mm (28mm equivalent in 35mm format.) lens producing a different aspect ratio to the Ricoh models (see text.).

(8) DP1 DETAIL 2.

This, like previous crops, is from a section of the original image upscaled to 18ins (45cms) on the longest side. Small details are easily identified with no visible evidence of edge mashing or fragging; large areas of single hued tone are even and clear.

(9) DP1 DETAIL 1.

In this second crop there is very slight evidence of a fall off in sharpness toward the edge of the frame. Using a smaller f/stop would have improved depth of field marginally but this might not be noticed in print. Overall image quality is excellent for a Jpeg file and can be improved further using Sigma's X3F RAW capture mode.

At first glance the file size hardly seems practicable, but upscaling an image in Photoshop to DPS maintains a high quality level of small detail, overall sharpness and smooth tonality across the image. Viewed at 100% on screen, these upscaled images are four times larger than they are likely to appear in print, but apart from almost imperceptible fragging to the edges of some small details, objects maintain a clarity which the smaller compact sensors cannot match. There is no evidence of mashing. Reduced down to their real life size, none of these faults in the DP1 files are visible and noise levels are well controlled at all but the highest sensitivity settings.

This is a camera one needs to get to know well to extract the best it is capable of producing. Operationally, it is not quick, as I found on occasion during my ten day jaunt and I reiterate that more than the usual degree of patience is required at times. Being a lazy so and so, I rarely shoot anything in RAW mode, but since using the DP1 I have been persuaded by the quality of its reproduced Jpeg files - up to 3/4 page - that a still higher quality level can be obtained and for certain stock material which has the potential of advertising use or larger than A3 repro, RAW capture and the extra processing time involved is a necessary evil.

The much larger sensor area of the DP1 has one other effect on the image.

The tiny sensors used in the majority of compact cameras permit the use of extreme wide angle objectives with a short back focal length, i.e. the distance from the rear element of the lens cell to the imaging plane, the sensor in this case. This shorter distance effectively increases depth of field at any given distance setting - the range over which objects in the frame are in apparently sharp focus. It's the reason why it is quite difficult at times to separate the main subject in the motif from the background with small sensor cameras. The DP1's much larger sensor and 28mm equivalent lens combination is manifest in a shorter depth of field characteristic, enabling the user with more control through selective use of aperture setting to capture appropriate out of focus backgrounds when required. The effect produces images which look more as if they might have been made on a medium format film camera, helping to concentrate the viewer's focus on the intended image subject.

(10) DP1 VENDOME 1.

This is the whole frame captured at ISO 100 at aperture f/10 in fine Jpeg mode.

(11) DP1 VENDOME 2.

And this is a 100% crop from a section of the image in (10) enlarged to 24ins (60cms) on the longest side in a straight upscale in Photoshop with no unsharp mask applied. The level of detail retained in the image speaks for itself.

Some observers have complained that Sigma's remit for this camera should have included a faster maximum lens aperture; f/4 being considered slow in comparison to the wider f/2.8 or f/2.4 of lenses in other compacts. Considering the sensor size of the DP1, a larger maximum aperture for the 16.6mm lens would have required a far larger physical size of lens, thus eliminating any prospect of the camera being called a compact. In practice, I didn't find f/4 especially restrictive, but it does mean that if you want to shoot black cats in a coal hole, some form of camera support will probably be necessary to obtain shake free images. The old Leitz table top tripod folds neatly into one of Lowepro's Sideline Shooter bags.

In due course later this year, Sigma plans to launch the DP2, a camera similar in size and features to the DP1 but fitted instead with a 40mm (35mm equivalent.) f/2 lens. To be sure of being covered for most focal length eventualities (aside from the really long stuff.), having both cameras to hand would be necessary. Which brings me in its roundabout way to the title of this piece and its meaning.

Potato starch is what the Lumiere brothers used in the manufacture of their wonderfully subtle Autochrome colour plates back around the turn of the 20th century, the backs of which were coated with lampblack to fill in the gaps between particles of dyed starch. 105 years ago, the process represented state-of-the-art technology for capturing colour images in bulky hand and often tripod mounted wooden cameras. Large scale reproductions from Autochromes were not impossible but in terms of technical quality, the pointillist painter Seurat probably achieved better results.

Then we come to equipment size. The nearest comparison of purpose I can make to Sigma's handy compact-high-image-quality philosophy stretches back to the heyday of the Rolleiflex twin lens reflex. Beautiful but big and bulky medium format film cameras with a choice of fixed standard, wide and telephoto lenses. Carrying all three on any assignment needed muscle as well as a determination to see it through for the sake of quality and the slim chance of a double page spread.

More than two decades past, I was sent on assignment to a little place at the top end of the Baltic Sea to cover a championship yachting event. My camera kit was packed in three cases and included, amongst the several lenses, a 500mm telephoto which alone weighed almost 4 kilos in its box. But this was nothing compared with the kit needed to set up a darkroom in the local paper offices in Lulea for an event that was to last almost three weeks; enlarger, processing tanks, film drying cabinet (!), a mini Durst paper processor, stacks of printing paper, what seemed like a ton of chemicals, laptop computer and printer and two print transmitters. All of this and the two personnel who would use it had to hire two cabs from the local station to the paper on arrival.

Now?

On returning to Sweden last year, everything, except the Nikon and its 80-200 zoom, was crammed into a small shoulder bag; I hand carried the Nikon. Bizarrely, the cab sent to collect me at Visby airport was a stretched limmo Volvo. All that stuff carried to Lulea years before would have fitted in it but sprawled out in the car's cavernous interior, I was really glad I didn't need any of it. Hanging around my neck was a tool smaller than an average cigar pack and weighing about as much. From its image files, repro print quality is better than we ever got from a 10 x 8ins colour print pinged down a piece of copper wire. I'm not waiting for the next generation. The Sigma will do it.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
Copyright; Jonathan Eastland
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

New Lumix mount adaptors from Panasonic

2009-05-22T00:14:00.004+01:00

Press release: Panasonic

Panasonic is pleased to announce two new mount adaptors, the M Mount Adaptor DMW-MA2M and R Mount Adaptor DMW-MA3R, to further enhance the photographic experience with cameras from the Lumix G Micro System.

The M Mount Adaptor and R Mount Adaptor are developed under support of Leica Camera AG, making it possible to attach Leica M lenses (DMW-MA2M) or R lenses (DMW-MA3R) on DMC-G1 and DMC-GH1. Users can enjoy outstanding image rendering offered by the combination of high quality Leica lenses and Lumix G cameras that are full of Panasonic's cutting edge digital technologies. These adaptors also allow users to use the movable MF assist function, which enlarges the selected area when focusing manually.

The compatibility information of Leica M/R lenses are on http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Kenro appoints Sales Office Manager

2009-04-16T08:34:00.002+01:00

Release Date: 15 April 2009 Kenro Ltd

Kenro, one of the leading suppliers of photographic accessories to UK retailers, has appointed Simon East to the newly created role of Sales Office Manager.

Simon joins the company with a solid photo industry CV. He began his career with Camera Exchange's Cotswold group of stores in 1988 prior to their re-unification with the London Camera Exchange Group. Following his relocation to Scotland in 1995, Simon was appointed manager of the J.Lizars Ltd (now Black & Lizars) Edinburgh store's photographic dept. During this time he developed exhibition and field events experiences as well as in-store retailing skills.

In 1997 Simon joined the field sales team at Leica Camera Ltd and for a decade managed the southern territory for photographic, sport optics and projection products.

Simon is looking forward to his new role at Kenro: "I am really excited to be joining a company with such a strong reputation within the imaging industry. I have already met many people from the company and the team at Kenro have great strength in depth, this demonstrates to me why the business remains such a competitive outfit after almost four decades of trading."

He continued: "I will be assisting the company in its plans to continue modernising its technical operations, drive efficiencies, develop provisions for e-commerce, improve technical support as well as manage its customer relationship strategy, I know I am joining a future-focussed, growing business."

Kenro managing director, Paul Kench, feels Simon's appointment is a positive move for the company: "Everyone at Kenro is determined to continue our expansion and build on the strengths of our key brands; Tokina lenses, Nissin flash, Marumi accessories, our own ranges of studio lighting, frames and albums, plus the selection of Kenair products. Simon's arrival at the company will help us to not just consolidate, but increase our standing in the photographic trade."

Simon can be contacted on the main Kenro switchboard, 01793 615836 or via email, simon@kenro.co.uk

ENDS

Kenro Ltd
Greenbridge Road
Swindon
SN3 3LH
Tel: 01793 615836
Fax: 01793 530108
E-mail: sales@kenro.co.uk
Web: www.kenro.co.uk

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Data Robotics unveils DroboPro

2009-04-08T22:40:00.004+01:00

London, UK – 7th April, 2009 –

THE FIRST SMB DATA STORAGE SYSTEM THAT MANAGES ITSELF

Scalable BeyondRAID Platform Eliminates Capacity Over-Provisioning and RAID Lock-In

Data Robotics, the company that is changing the way the world stores and protects digital content, today introduced DroboPro, the first business class storage array that manages itself. DroboPro delivers a radically simplified storage experience enhanced by advanced self-monitoring and self-healing functionality that enables small and medium businesses (SMBs) to maintain uptime in the face of constant data growth. Built on the company’s award-winning BeyondRAID™ virtualised storage platform, DroboPro provides enterprise-level business continuity features – including protection against multiple concurrent drive failures and no-downtime capacity expansion with thin provisioning – while eliminating the lock-in of traditional RAID configurations.

DroboPro with BeyondRAID offers IT managers the unprecedented flexibility to replace failed disks, upsize the capacity of disks, and with one click switch between single and dual disk redundancy without costly downtime. Providing the most straightforward user experience ever designed for business class storage, DroboPro enables companies to devote more resources to business growth and significantly less time and money to managing their storage. With DroboPro IT managers no longer have to make difficult and confining choices upfront about how to provision capacity for the future.

“At many businesses, IT managers are responsible for much more than just storage, let alone having to predict the future of their company’s business and dynamic storage needs,” said David Reinsel, group vice president, storage and semiconductors, at industry analyst firm IDC. “A forward-thinking approach to flexible and highly available data storage, like Data Robotics’ DroboPro, not only should save IT managers capital and administrative costs, but also should provide them more time to focus on managing their front-end applications, such as Microsoft Small Business Server and Microsoft Exchange.”

“It’s critical that our company’s data is always accessible. Devoting time and resources to manage our storage is challenging, especially as our data continues to grow each year. The ability to survive two drive failures and DroboPro’s high-speed iSCSI interface make it the ideal primary storage for our mission-critical applications server,” said Wayne Titus, owner, AMDG Financial. “Because DroboPro manages the RAID levels automatically, we no longer need to buy more storage than we need today in anticipation of estimated future requirements. As our business grows, DroboPro grows with us. We can add additional drives as needed, and the new capacity is instantly available. With DroboPro, we have a high-performance storage solution our business can afford, with the features, functionality, and ease of use that are ideal for any small business.”

DroboPro Features and Benefits

Up to 8 Disks for Instant Expansion to 16TB and Beyond

Customers can grow storage in line with their data capacity needs with minimal effort. To add capacity, customers simply insert a new hard disk or replace the smallest disk with a larger one, even when all eight disk bays are full. Unlike traditional RAID systems, the BeyondRAID technology found in DroboPro enables IT managers to efficiently mix and match disk brands, capacities and speeds, enabling continuous expansion as disk capacities grow. With DroboPro expansion is automatic and instantaneous, and access to data is always maintained.

No Headache Dual Disk Redundancy

The DroboPro Dual Disk Redundancy option protects against the simultaneous failure of up to two hard disks. Customers can engage this option with a single click, without ever losing access to their data. When it runs out of capacity, customers can switch DroboPro back to single disk redundancy with a click. Unlike moving between RAID 5 and RAID 6, there’s no need to reformat or migrate data off of the array, potentially saving hours or days.

The Virtues of Smart Volumes

Smart Volumes allow customers to create new volumes in seconds and manage 16TB volumes over time with ease. The timesaving Smart Volume management technology integrated into DroboPro allows volumes to pull storage from the common pool of disks rather than a specific physical disk allocation. The labour of resizing and migrating volumes is replaced with the simplicity of intelligent engineering.

Triple Interface Featuring iSCSI

DroboPro attaches directly to a server or workstation that requires storage, or to a shared server or workstation on a network that can provide access to multiple clients. Interface options include iSCSI (using Gigabit Ethernet), FireWire 800, and USB 2.0. DroboPro reduces the complexity of iSCSI by introducing zero configuration connection establishment for both Windows and Mac OS X.

Rack Mount Ready, Desktop Quiet

DroboPro fits into a rack mount environment or can sit on a desktop. Dual smart fans automatically manage their speed to optimise both cooling and operating noise. (DroboPro rack-mount sold separately.)

“DroboPro was built on the belief that there is no reason that storage should be complex or expensive in order to be effective. We’ve taken storage to a level that is truly simple and straightforward without losing the necessary features that businesses need,” said Dr. Geoff Barrall, CEO and founder of Data Robotics. “Leveraging the capabilities that are built into DroboPro, businesses can quickly take advantage of this robust, cost-effective storage solution to ease the burden of nonstop data growth.”

Price and Availability

DroboPro is currently available starting at an entry price of £1,099 MSRP with multiple configurations to £3,299 MSRP for a 16TB rack-mountable solution. DroboPro is available now from authorised partners worldwide. For a list of partners or to learn more about DroboPro, please visit www.drobo.com/drobopro.

About Data Robotics

Data Robotics, the company that is changing the way the world stores digital content, develops automated storage products designed to ensure data is always protected, accessible and simple to manage. The award-winning Drobo ® storage arrays are the first to provide the protection of traditional RAID without the complexity. The revolutionary BeyondRAID technology frees users from making the difficult and confining choice of “Which RAID level to deploy?” by providing an unprecedented combination of advanced features and automation, including single and dual disk redundancy, instant expansion, self-monitoring, data awareness, self-healing, and an easy-to-understand visual status and alert panel. For more information, visit Data Robotics at www.datarobotics.com.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

KODACHROME, EKTACHROME and TAKUMAR Lenses

2009-04-06T20:17:00.009+01:00

Another recent rummage through the shelves of used bookshops - which, incidentally, seem to be diminishing in number around these parts - turned up another collection of Cowboy pictures; that's if you can call a few pages devoted to the subject a collection.

This notwithstanding, the book in which they feature was something of a find for several reasons.

Entitled, America, I love You, the author, the Swiss dentist and amateur photographer Milan Schijatschky, takes the reader on an extravagent pictorial tour of the USA; a selection of photographs edited from his several trips by car, coach and train criss crossing North America over several years.

Another great find! Milan Schijatschky's America, I Love You.

The book is in landscape format, about A3 plus in size. That means a double page spread is A2. Printed and published in 1988 with film separations and litho work on semi gloss paper in Germany, the book showcases some excellent repro becoming available at the time.

Just a few pages, but worth a look. The 50mm SMC Pentax lens has been added to give an idea of page size.

But more fascinating perhaps for some, will be the fact that a high proportion, or possibly all, of the images featured in this tome were originally shot on Pentax cameras and lenses using Kodachrome, Ektachrome and Tri-X film. The author is not specific about which Pentax models were used, although it seems fairly certain from close examination of the reproductions, the original images were exposed on 35mm film. One or two suffer a little from shake, but those which are free of it used across two pages show beyond any reasonable doubt what great lenses Asahi Pentax used to turn out and how well Milan used some of them.

All the colour pictures in this book were shot on Kodachrome or Ektachrome film stock; the few b+w images on Kodak Tri-X.

Pentax aficionados might be able to throw more light on the following, but I recall reading somewhere many years ago the company decided on the name Takumar for their lenses in honour of a great Japanese watercolour painter. They were not wrong in their assimilation and I have always thought their early glass computations held the promise of something special. It is epitomised in this book where the characteristic Takumar colour rendering is very well portrayed. The large scale reproductions are also a terrific example of the magical effect film lends to the image aesthetic, a synthetic version of which I have only seen so far on a small number of dslrs.

It looks straightforward, but exposure timing for this frame was spot on. Just shows what can be done with a great eye, simple kit and Pentax lenses. The spread is very sharp so I'd speculate the lens used might have been the SMC Takumar 24mm f/3.5.

Having reviewed and tested several of the modern digitally compatible Pentax objectives, I remain to be convinced they are all as good as some of the older mechanical lenses. A recent simple test using a 20 year old 50mm f/1.7 SMC Pentax-A lens on a Pentax K10D body completely rubbished the fine detail resolving ability of a modern standard Pentax SMC DA 18-55 f/3.5 - 5.6 AL zoom kit lens while the newer SMC PENTAX -DA* 1:2.8 16-50mm ED AL(IF) SDM faired only marginally better at the 50mm setting. It will be interesting to see how both the modern and older designs fare on the Pentax K20D with it's higher resolution.

And it's not just scenics. Seems Milan could turn his hand to just about anything. The Jazz and Gospel sections are a mix of colour and b+w, probably Kodak Ektachrome for the colour, but he doesn't specify.

America, I Love You by Milan Schijatschky, was published in 1988 by Edition Q, Berlin and printed by Industrie und Presseklischee, Berlin. ISBN 3 9801163 4 4.

Other works previously mentioned on this blog include,

Vanishing Breed - Photographs of The Cowboy and The West by William Albert Allard was published in 1982 by the New York Graphic Society, Little Brown & Co., Boston and printed by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Italy. ISBN 0 8212 1505 1.

Cowboys - A Vanishing World, photographs by Jon Nicholson, was published in 2001 by Macmillan, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Ltd, London and printed by The Bath Press in the UK. ISBN 0 333 90208 4.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
Copyright; Jonathan Eastland
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Ricoh announce the launch of the CX1

2009-03-31T22:55:00.003+01:00

The Ricoh CX1 features the highly evolved image processing engine Smooth Imaging Engine IV together with a CMOS sensor that enables high-speed image processing. The CX1's expanded dynamic range of 12 EV equivalent makes it possible to capture high-contrast scenes in a way not possible with earlier models.

New Features:

1. Enhanced high-speed continuous shooting functions. Smooth continuous shooting. High-speed continuous shooting at approx. 4 frames/sec. Continuous shooting at overwhelming speed. 120 frame/sec. Ultra-high-speed continuous shooting. The M-continuous plus shooting function does continuous shooting that saves the 30 images (30 frames/sec.) taken during the one second or so before the finger is removed from the shutter release button or the 30 images (15 frames/sec.) taken during the two seconds before.
2. Dynamic Range Double Shot Mode - Decisive reduction of overexposure/underexposure.
3. Multi-Pattern Auto White Balance - A dramatic transformation for people photography.
4. Multi-Target Auto Focus - Shoot seven images with different focal distances.
5. Smooth Imaging Engine IV＋CMOS sensor - superb image quality.

Price and Availability:
The CX1 will be available in the UK from 13th March at £299.99 inc VAT

More about Ricoh cameras

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Tamron Develops new 'Life Size Macro Lens'

2009-03-26T21:15:00.005Z

Press release 24th March 2009

Tamron Develops SP AF60mm F/2.0 Di II MACRO 1:1
–Life-size macro lens designed exclusively for digital SLR cameras with APS-C size image sensors* that features a fast maximum aperture of F/2

Tamron Co., Ltd (Mr. Morio Ono, President), a comprehensive manufacturer of optical products with its head office in Saitama City, announced the development of the SP AF60mm F/2.0 Di II LD (IF) MACRO 1:1 (Model G005), a life-size macro lens designed exclusively for digital SLR cameras with APS-C size image sensors* that offers a fast maximum aperture of F/2.0.

The SP AF60mm F/2.0 Di II LD (IF) MACRO 1:1 (Model G005), covering an equivalent angle of view of 93mm when converted to the 35mm format* and boasting a maximum aperture of F/2.0—one stop faster than the F/2.8 maximum aperture found on conventional macro lenses in the same class—is a fast life-size macro lens that delivers dramatically attractive blurred background effects.
The new life-size macro lens from Tamron is expected to be made available in mounts for Canon, Nikon (with built-in AF motor) and Sony.
Price and launch dates will be announced at a later date.

Notes:
* Tamron’s conversion value is 1.55X.
* Di II lenses are designed exclusively for use with digital SLR cameras equipped with APS-C size image sensors and employ an optical system optimized for the characteristics of those digital cameras. Di II lenses are not designed for use with 35mm film cameras or digital SLR cameras with image sensors larger than 24 x 16mm.
* The special note “APS-C size equivalent” is hereinafter omitted.

DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT
Tamron’s macro lenses (SP AF90mm F/2.8 Di MACRO 1:1 (Model 272E), SP AF180mm F/3.5 Di MACRO 1:1 (Model B01) are world renowned for their outstanding optical performance. Particularly, the Tamron SP AF90mm macro lens first introduced in 1979 and subsequently upgraded and renewed seven times since has been highly evaluated by many photographers as a lens that delivers not only attractive out-of-focus effects and sharp descriptive performance in macro photography with its easy-to-use focal length, but also as a lens ideal for portraiture.

Amid the growing popularity of APS-C size DSLRs, Tamron recognizes that there are many photographers who wish to enjoy macro photography with a focal length that provides an angle of view equivalent to 90mm. Tamron therefore developed the SP AF60mm medium telephoto macro lens to meet the desire of those users and goes a step further by providing the extremely fast and desirable maximum aperture of F/2.0. The SP AF60mm is a high performance and versatile lens that is suitable not only for macro photography of textiles, small creatures, flora and more, but also for portraiture by making good use of its easy-to-use focal length, fast maximum aperture and high optical quality even in low-lit conditions.

OPTICAL FEATURES
1. Medium telephoto 1:1 life-size macro lens featuring a fast maximum aperture of F/2.0 that strikes a fine balance between attractive out-of-focus effects and sharpness
The SP AF60mm is a medium telephoto macro lens designed for APS-C size digital SLR cameras that realizes the fast maximum aperture of F/2.0 for the first time in the world 1. Using an optical design approach that attaches methodical importance to optical quality, Tamron’s optical designers have successfully controlled complex movements of respective lens groups in order to restrain the increase in aberration changes due to the fast maximum aperture, thus achieving outstanding depictive performance that is uniformly sharp from the center to the periphery. Since the maximum aperture of F/2.0 provides a depth-of-field that is shallower than that of conventional F/2.8 lenses, the new lens enables the user to expand the range of the macro photographic expression. The SP AF60mm developed by combining Tamron’s accumulated macro lens design know-how is an attractive lens that maintains a well-balanced relationship between sharp image performance and beautiful out-of-focus background effects.

2. Employment of special low-dispersion glass elements
The lens employs two large LD (low dispersion) glass elements in its first group to thoroughly compensate for various aberrations and attain high optical quality.

3. Working distance of 100mm, the longest distance among lenses in this class 2
Tamron has realized the long working distance of 100mm from the front element of the lens to the subject in 1:1 life-size macro photography. The long working distance allows the user to take macro shots while maintaining a sufficient distance from such subjects like timid insects that are likely to escape if you move in too close. Also, with this longer working distance, you can prevent capturing the shadow of the lens barrel as is often the case with conventional macro lenses with insufficient working distances.

1 As of February 1, 2009, according to our research of 50-60mm life-size macro lenses
2 As of February 1, 2009, according to our research of 50-60mm life-size macro lenses

4. Meticulous countermeasures against ghosting and flare
Tamron employed new BBAR (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection) multi-layer coatings in order to ensure optimum performance in all photographic situations. The new BBAR coatings enhance the light transmission factors in both the short and long wavelength ranges, a condition that was thought incompatible with conventional anti-reflection coating technology. In addition, Tamron employs internal surface coatings (coatings on cemented surfaces of lens elements) for sharpness, high colour reproduction performance and superior colour balance.

MECHANICAL FEATURES
1. Lightweight and compact macro lens boasts F/2.0 fast maximum aperture
In order to prevent the lens from becoming bulky due to the fast F/2.0 maximum aperture, Tamron’s mechanical engineers thoroughly reviewed the internal constructions of conventional macro lenses and improved the accuracy of precision components by combining Tamron’s accumulated mechanical engineering techniques. Through the employment of precision injection-molded engineering plastic parts with high reliability, Tamron realized a compact body that measures only 73mm ( 2.9in.) in its maximum diameter and weighs a mere 400g (14.1oz.).

2. Internal focusing system for enhanced ease of use
The lens employs an internal focusing (IF) system without changing the overall length of the lens due to focusing. Since the front group of the lens does not extend, the lens is particularly easy to use in close focusing ranges. Tamron has realized the working distance of 100mm, the longest distance among lenses in this class 4. The internal focusing system combined with new optical solutions to realize this longer working distance allows the user to enjoy macro photography comfortably while maintaining an adequate distance from subjects.
4 As of February 1, 2009, according to our research of 50-60mm life-size macro lenses

3. Full-time manual control mechanism
Delicate focusing control is essential in macro photography. The lens incorporates a full-time manual control mechanism that enables the user to manually adjust focus without engaging the AF/MF switchover button, even when in the auto-focus mode. In addition, the lens employs a large focus control ring to ensure a solid grip and precise control when manually focusing.

4. Simple and attractive outer design
The lens employs a new outer design that is more refined and smoother in its overall contours by minimizing concavity, convexity and variations in its profile to match various digital SLR cameras. The lens barrel features a delicate matte finish, which enhances the high quality appearance of the lens.

SPECIFICATIONS
Focal Length : 60mm
Maximum Aperture : F/2.0
Angle of View (diagonal) : 26 degrees and 35 minutes (APS-C size equivalent)
Optical Construction : 14 elements in 10 groups
Minimum Focusing Distance : 0.23m (9.1in.)
Max. Magnification Ratio : 1:1
Minimum Working Distance : 100mm (3.94in.)
Filter Diameter : 55mm
Overall Length : 80mm (3.15in.)*
Maximum Diameter : 73mm (2.9in.)
Weight : 400g (14.1oz.) *
Diaphragm Blade Number : 7
Minimum Aperture : F/22
Standard Accessory : Lens Hood
Compatible Mounts : For Canon, Nikon (with built-in AF motor) and Sony

* The values given are the lens for Nikon.
* The cosmetic design, specifications and performance are subject to change without notice.

Nikon cameras

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

New Kodak Z980, Zx1 and Kodak easyshare M380

2009-01-12T21:40:00.005Z

New introductions from Kodak deliver brilliant images, unique ways to create and easy ways to connect

Pocket-sized HD Digital Video Camera and 24x Ultra-Zoom Digital Camera highlight Kodak launches at 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show

London, January 5, 2009 – Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) today introduced new products and services that make it easier than ever for consumers to make the most of life’s moments, from go-anywhere High Definition video recording to simple, automatic capture of brilliant images.

Kodak’s latest innovations are on display at Kodak’s booth at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (booth 31400, South Hall).

“These new products deliver great performance but are still so easy to use that you’ll never miss a memorable or important moment,” said Matthew Yarrow, Country Business Manager, for the Consumer Digital Imaging Group (CDG) and the Film & Photofinishing Systems Group (FPG), UK and Ireland, Eastman Kodak Company. “With these new products consumers can count on Kodak to help them capture brilliant images and video, easily share them with friends and family, and create a wealth of lasting memories.”

Leading the introductions is the new KODAK Z980 Digital Camera, featuring a wealth of power and versatility, including a 26 mm wide angle, professional quality, 24X image stabilised optical zoom lens and a vertical shutter release with detachable vertical grip.

“Photographers looking for more from their digital camera will find it in the Z980,” Matthew Yarrow said. “Our innovative Smart Capture feature makes camera adjustments automatically, delivering brilliant images automatically in virtually any setting.”

The new KODAK Z980 Digital Camera offers:
Kodak’s exclusive Smart Capture feature, which analyses scenes and adjusts camera settings to deliver beautiful pictures more often;
26 mm wide angle/24X SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON Image Stabilised Optical Zoom Lens;
HD picture and video capture;
Vertical shutter release and detachable vertical grip, for greater comfort and control when shooting scenes vertically;
Hot shoe for optional KODAK P20 zoom flash;
Pricing and availability TBC

Kodak also introduced new models to its M-Series Digital Camera line, led by the KODAK EASYSHARE M380 Digital Camera. A sleek but powerful digital camera for style-savvy consumers, the M380 delivers an innovative feature package led by Kodak’s Smart Capture feature. The new camera’s compact design also boasts a 10MP sensor, 5X optical zoom, and 2.7” LCD. The M380 will be available in black, red and teal with pricing and availability TBC.

Kodak expands its line of video cameras with the new KODAK Zx1 Digital Video Camera, a compact and weather-resistant device that enables “go-anywhere” High Definition recording.

The Zx1 allows users to shoot and share high-quality video quickly and simply, with 720p HD video capture – at 60 or 30 fps – a vibrant 2.0-inch LCD screen, and built-in software for easy editing and sharing of content to YouTube™ and other social media and networking websites.

"The Zx1 is a fun and interactive way to engage in ‘on-the-go’ storytelling, and enables consumers to quickly and easily share their adventures online,” said Matthew Yarrow.

The new camera’s feature set includes:
Pocketable 720p HD video capture at 60 fps;
Weather-resistant design that stands up to splashes, dirt and more;
High-quality video capture in bright light or low light - from the beach, to the nightclub;
Easy editing, personalisation, and uploading to YouTube™ or other Internet sites with built-in video software, ArcSoft Media Impressions for Kodak;
Expandable SD/SDHC Card slot for memory cards up to 32 GB, that can record up to 10 hours of HD video*;
Available in five colours: black, red, pink, blue and yellow**;
Pricing and availability TBC

Kodak also unveiled new accessory offerings, including KODAK SDHC Video Memory Cards, customized for faster video transfer and available in 4, 8 and 16 GB capacities to capture and store more HD video.

*Record approximately 20 minutes per 1GB at HD 30fps.
** Colour availability may vary.

About Kodak
As the world's foremost imaging innovator, Kodak helps consumers, businesses, and creative professionals unleash the power of pictures and printing to enrich their lives.

To learn more, visit the newly redesigned http://www.kodak.com and follow our blogs and more at http://www.kodak.com/go/followus.

More than 70 million people worldwide manage, share and create photo gifts online at KODAK Gallery --join for free today at www.kodakgallery.com

© 2009. KODAK and EASYSHARE are trademarks of Kodak.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Fujifilm's i2 software is a money maker for School Pictures International

2009-01-12T21:26:00.003Z

PRESS RELEASE from Fujifilm UK - Photofinishing Division
Release Date: 7 January 2009

Leading UK school's lab, School Pictures International (SPI), has halved the number of sub-standard images that need to be re-printed following the installation of Fujifilm's Image Intelligence Portrait (i2 Portrait) workflow software.

SPI, based in Mansfield, print around 2 million school's photographs per year and have a reputation as being one of Britain's most quality conscious package processing labs. Managing Director, Cy Yardley, explained how i2 Portrait helps his company: "The key thing about i2 Portrait is that it saves us money, it dramatically cuts down on the need to do things twice. It may sound a cliché, but time is money. As any business will tell you, labour costs are crucial to the success or otherwise of a business, and anything that can reduce my overheads, whilst not adversely affecting quality, is good for me."

Cy continued: "Our business succeeds because, first and foremost, we concentrate on the quality of our products. Delivering excellent results consistently, time after time after time, requires great staff and great equipment. We're very lucky to have such a dedicated team at SPI and in Fujifilm we've got a supplier that matches our continued striving for excellence."

As a trial SPI installed i2 Portrait on one of their four processing lines and the results were so emphatically successful that the company purchased another three versions for the remaining lines. Each line at SPI is configured to a group of customers who all have similar requirements. A dedicated team works on each line to ensure consistent results.

i2 Portrait has a host of features designed to help the operator, Cy explained more: "Within any set of files from a school's shoot there will be a wide range of skin tones and hair colours, plus the lighting may be inconsistent on some images. Manual correction of these files would be impractical, but i2 Portrait helps us to bring all the images up to our high standard quickly and easily. When we were dealing with film we would need to re-print around 25% of all photographs, this figure reduced to around 6% following our switch to digital three years ago. The software has further reduced the need for re-prints to just 2.75%. This means we create less paper waste and our staff are more effective, they now do more work in less time - this benefits the company, our photographers and their customers. We now have a service time of a maximum of five days, no matter how big the order is."

"In the past, some jobs that were taken on film would have required a complete re-shoot because they weren't of acceptable quality. A similar standard would now be saleable - all thanks to i2 Portrait."

SPI welcomes all photographers to their premises and are happy to give a guided tour of the lab. In addition to the processing lines, the building has studios that photographers can use for training purposes or seminars. For more information on SPI contact David Dorner on 01623 657777 or visit www.schoolpictures.net

To find out more about i2 Portrait or any of Fujifilm's wide range of photofinishing solutions contact the Photofinishing sales team on minilabs@fuji.co.uk or 01234 572144.

Ends.

Fujifilm (UK) Ltd
Unit 10A
St Martins Business Centre
St Martins Way
Bedfordshire MK42 0LF
Tel: 01234 572144
E-mail: minilabs@fuji.co.uk
Web: www.fujifilm.co.uk/minilabs

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

DALSA launches new 200mm MEMS line

2009-01-10T22:45:00.002Z

DALSA Enjoys Continued MEMS Success, Launches First Phase of New 200mm MEMS Line

Waterloo, Ontario, January 7, 2008 - DALSA Semiconductor, a premier supplier of specialized and custom wafer foundry services and a division of DALSA Corporation (TSX: DSA), announced today the launch of the first phase of a 200mm MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) manufacturing line at its semiconductor wafer foundry in Bromont, Quebec, Canada. The announcement closely follows several new MEMS supply contracts the Company has recently received for delivery of product in 2009 and for new product development.

The larger 200mm MEMS wafer size will allow DALSA, one of the world's leading pure-play MEMS foundries, to increase its production capacity and meet the growing demand from its customers to manufacture next generation MEMS chips that feature increased functionality, smaller package sizes, and lower costs. The increase in demand for MEMS accelerometers, gyros, microphones, and radio frequency devices is being driven largely by the explosive growth in consumer electronics devices including cell phones, PDAs, and game controllers.

"Adding 200mm MEMS capability at Bromont is a natural step forward to meet the production needs of our customers," commented Brian Doody, CEO of DALSA Corporation. "As we begin to produce 200mm MEMS products, we will continue to focus on the smooth, high-volume operation of our existing 150mm MEMS lines. We have strong ongoing demand from our customers as MEMS devices become an ever greater part of our everyday lives."

About DALSA Semiconductor
Located in Bromont, Quebec, Canada, DALSA's award winning semiconductor wafer foundry has a proud history of innovation in specialties such as MEMS, CCDs, and high voltage CMOS. As a pure-play foundry, our goal is to deliver innovative foundry capabilities as a manufacturing partner to fabless and fab-lite semiconductor companies to help them succeed with their advanced MEMS or IC designs.

About DALSA Corporation
DALSA is an international leader in high performance digital imaging and semiconductors with approximately 1000 employees world-wide. Established in 1980, the company designs, develops, manufactures, and markets digital imaging products and solutions, in addition to providing semiconductor products and services. DALSA's core competencies are in specialized integrated circuit and electronics technology, software, and highly engineered semiconductor wafer processing. Products and services include image sensor components (CCD and CMOS); electronic digital cameras; vision processors; image processing software; and semiconductor wafer foundry services for use in MEMS, high-voltage semiconductors, image sensors and mixed-signal CMOS chips. DALSA is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "DSA" and has its corporate offices in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

For more information, please contact:

Media Relations:
Kumi Verma
Internet Marketing & MarCom Mgr., Intl.
DALSA Corporation
514-333-1301, ext. 227
Email: kumi.verma@dalsa.com

Investor Relations:
Patrick Myles
Vice-President, Corporate Communications
DALSA Corporations
519-886-6001, ext. 2177
Email: patrick.myles@dalsa.com

Some of the statements in this press release, including those relating to the company's strategies and other statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or that include words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", or similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of securities law. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements are detailed from time to time in DALSA's periodic reports filed with the Ontario Securities Commission and other regulatory authorities. Investors should read review the Business Risks and Prospects sections of the DALSA 2007 annual Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") to understand the assumptions, risks and uncertainties inherent in forward looking information or statements. DALSA has no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2009.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2009.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Relegation be Damned

2008-12-24T23:15:00.005Z

by
Jonathan Eastland.

The dearth of features, news and articles pertaining to the use of film cameras in the photo press well illustrates the popularity of digital technology across a broad spectrum of enthusiasts; or is it simply that advertising rules the roost? (no answer needed.) Only one, the British Journal of Photography, regularly continues to uphold the values of film for both its reviews of new materials and portfolios by shooters still enamoured by the silver halide.

Just recently, I completed a review of Rollei's ATP 1.1 film - the new(ish) flagship Technical Pan - according to the maker Maco for the Journal. Over a period of several weeks, I exposed rolls on the streets of Paris, Versailles and back home on local UK hunting grounds in a Leica M6.

After a traumatic processing experience, the negatives were scanned on an Epson F3200 at the maximum optical resolution. The results lived up to almost every one of Rollei's claims - except ease of processing in small tanks with stainless spools - and I immediately put in a request for a sample of the 120 medium format version announced at this year's photokina.

ATP 1.1 captures an astonishing amount of fine detail; negatives are virtually grain free, although it is there and visible in large scale prints. Image appearance reminded me of early Kodachrome II sans colour. The joy of course, is that digital post processing tools lend an easy hand here to obtaining the near perfect file ready for printing on a variety of substrates.

This experience also reminded me it had been some time since I developed my own b+w films. I still have a refrigerator full of Kodak Tri-X and other stock, but I shifted to using Kodak's T400CN chromagenic film some years ago, both for the sake of processing convenience (C-41) and the fact that it produces very good fine grain scans. Nearly everything I have shot in b+w in the past few years has been on this stock and I have not been persuaded to return to old favourites yet.

Carrying out the strict procedures necessary for quality development of conventional silver halide emulsions also allows - when one is familiar with the process - time for reflection on other aspects of photography.

On this occasion, one which came back to niggle concerned the reason why, as a working editorial freelance, I need to be using anything but digital capture. At this juncture towards the end of 2008, there is no more argument about which medium appears to produce the better quality image in mechanical print. Digital technology has reached a point where only a few smaller format film emulsions - Rollei's ATP 1.1 is one - capture more noticeable fine detail which remains readable in large scale reproductions. ( I have made a brief review of Kodak's new Ektar colour neg in 35mm fomat which also appears to be endowed with some special characteristics - it is certainly, as the maker claims, very fined grained.) Larger film formats ( 5X4 inch and up) still enable better looking and possibly finer detailed images when the material is laser scanned. For the most part however, full frame digital Nikon, Canon, Sony and the larger format sensors of Hasselblad, Leaf et al, obtain the clean,sharp and highly detailed result most image buyers and stock agencies want. And, as I am not engaged in making prints for exhibition, A3 is about as large as most of what I shoot is ever likely to be reproduced.

There are various threads as to how these thoughts get kick-started. One was Cosina's announcement at photokina of a 6X7cm medium format folding bellows rangefinder camera - the Voigtlander Bessa III. There's no question in my mind about whether or not I need this tool. I will have to have it, if and when it eventually materialises. In the meantime, I continue to run the odd roll of 120 through a pair of sixty year old Balda Super Baldax cameras.

Another is the emotionally charged notion that somehow, my life as a photographer would simply not remain visually connected to the chaos of ordinary life without the mechanical extension of the mind's eye used in attempts to capture slices of it. My film Leica's are the tools of choice and they continue to be used for the purpose.

Yet circumstance and opportunity to shoot prolificly with a Leica M6 has not presented itself so far this year, although at least one body and a couple of lenses has been in the bag on a variety of assignments. The last of these was to Sweden at the end of August where the task to document marine archaeologists was up against a short deadline; digital got the job done on time.

So, I hear the cry, why not use an M8?

I have already made my position on this model clear in previous blogs and nothing so far, leads me to believe this will change any time soon. Indeed, what I think about that tool is partly a result of where Leica Camera AG has been heading for the past couple of years. Company philosophy seems aimed unwaveringly at the digital convert with a basket of products designed to appeal specificly to that market. They may say that film still forms a part of their on-going activities, but I have not seen or heard much evidence of that in recent weeks. Indeed, reading between the translated lines of what has been said, I am inclined to believe the M film camera is quietly but deliberately being sidelined by the company in favour of an all out effort to establish the Leica S system as a digital force to be reckoned with. In other words, there will come a time in the forseeable future when the Leica M camera may only be available 'a la carte' to special order.

In the meantime, the mark II version of the M8 is still not the digital Leica rangefinder I wanted and until they get rid of its motor and replace it with a thumb lever wind and make a digital camera the same dimensions as the M , I will not be interested. Of course, it could easily be argued that for decades the Leica M has been used by enthusiasts with a Motor Winder attached. That device makes more racket than the current M8 but at least it could be removed from the camera body when conditions demanded. And then there is the issue of the camera's ability to produce high quality jpeg files without first capturing an image in RAW. For the money, you could purchase three current entry level Dslrs which do the job far better.

Still, even with a mechanical thumb lever wind, I know the experience of using a digital rangefinder is not the same as using a film camera. I carry an Epson RD1 alongside M cameras, but it gets less use than the latter. I like the RD1 colour space and the camera doesn't feel much different in the hand from an M, but the mystique attached to each frame exposure, the smell and process of inserting or extracting a roll of film from a Leica endows the user with a unique emotional experience far removed from the seemingly clinical and objective process involved in digital capture.

The economy of using digital in the past couple of years has led me temptingly down the route towards wanting more of it at times and there are things I like about some digital camera colour spaces - in particular the hybrid digital/film look manifest by the Nikon D2H. Yet each time I come to process a film image, I am transported back to an era of photography that was truly magical. This isn't about being a luddite, it's about recognising there are things both systems do well and how different the end result obtained is. For some motifs, Kodachrome, Tri-X, Ilford HP5, adds an aesthetic visual appeal to a photograph which tugs at nostalgic emotions giving it an extra dimension. Often, and depending on image content, that extra dimension may seem inexplicable, but I know that it's there. For other motifs, the digital image obtains a quick and efficient result; a loveless, matter of fact representation of reality which lacks the transparent veil of mystique manifest by film.

For the most part, it is only [some] photographers who think about these things. Carrying out limited research amongst friends and acquaintances who are not shooters to see if they can spot differences between film or digitally captured images leads one down a blind alley. It's not a topic which concerns them or one they ever think about and mostly I have found, they can't see the difference when it is pointed out. And what nearly all seem to say when confronted with a selection of b+w pages is how much they 'love' that medium.

So my choice to carry on using film for some projects isn't driven by any fanciful notion that viewers of my work might benefit visually or emotionally one way or another; it's driven more by the artisan in me that says simply, this tool and its medium is the one I prefer for this or that job.

In the case of the Leica-M it has to do with how the tool feels in the hand, the noise it makes (or doesn't) when the shutter is released, the act of inching the lever wind over for another frame, the second nature way it seems to have of being easily manipulated surreptitiously, deftly and quickly to capture a moment observed, the way in which it is not seen or heard by most at whom it is aimed. There are many other reasons I could cite. In the end, I guess, it's about the comfort factor; how a particular tool does not make one think about a lot of bad baggage associated with some other tools, about how one special tool can make an individual feel good about what they want to do with it and how that will affect the end result.

Got to get out and shoot some film.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
Copyright; Jonathan Eastland
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2008.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2008.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

New instant film from Fujifilm

2008-12-18T21:34:00.000Z

Release Date: 18 December 2008

Fujifilm Professional has added a new film to its range. FP-3000B is a fine grain, high speed, black and white, peel apart instant film.

This 3000 ISO film was initially designed to be used in the scientific and medical industries. FP-3000B is also now a popular choice for cinematographers and creative photographers. It is easy to use and has a very short development time of just 15-30 seconds.

The film offers exceptional image quality plus superb tonal range with improved highlights. FP-3000B incorporates Fujifilm's own Sigma Crystal emulsion and a new physical development accelerator for the shortened development times, and fine-grain and smooth image quality enhancements.

"We have noticed a significant rise in interest in our range of professional instant films since the discontinuation of Polaroid's instant film products," commented Fujifilm Professional's Jerry Deeney, "The release of FP-3000B further bolsters our range of instant stock which also includes FP-100C Gloss, FP-100C Silk, FP-100B and FP-100C 4" x 5". The 4" x 5" 10-sheet pack film fits into a Fujifilm PA-45 back or a Polaroid 550 pack back.

FP-3000B comes in packs of 10, with each sheet sized at 3.25" x 4.25" and fits into a standard Polaroid 3.25" x 4.25" back. It is available to buy now from www.fujilab.co.uk or all Fujifilm recommended UK photographic distributors and retailers.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2008.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2008.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

DALSA to licence Alchimer's eG ViaCoat™ technology

2008-12-15T23:13:00.000Z

DALSA Semiconductor to license Alchimer's eG ViaCoat™ technology for MEMS processes with copper through-silicon vias

Bromont, Canada and Massy, France -- DALSA Semiconductor, a premier supplier of specialized and custom wafer foundry services and a division of DALSA Corporation (TSX: DSA), is pleased to announce successful tests in creating conformal copper seed layers on through-silicon via structures (TSVs) using the eG ViaCoat™ process from Alchimer S.A. (Massy, France), a leader in nanometric metallization. As a result of these successful tests, DALSA intends to license Alchimer's technology to enhance its MEMS production capabilities.

"For years, DALSA Semiconductor has fabricated low cost MEMS products using via-first TSV for its 3D integration technologies," commented Luc Ouellet, VP of Technology Development at DALSA Semiconductor. "With Alchimer's copper-based eG ViaCoat approach we can support consumer MEMS products with faster operating frequencies and higher power density with even lower resistance and higher thermal dissipation through TSV. Alchimer's approach for TSV is a strategic technology allowing us to mass produce MEMS devices in cost-sensitive markets."

Alchimer's eG ViaCoat is an electrochemical coating process for the copper seed metallization of TSVs used in advanced 3D packaging applications. eG ViaCoat enables over 50% reduction in cost of ownership compared to dry vacuum processes. eG ViaCoat won the "Best of the West Award" at Semicon West 2008.

In order to secure the license agreement with DALSA, Alchimer successfully demonstrated the coverage performance of its product on deep reentrant TSVs. A reentrant TSV is one whose diameter is narrower at the surface of the substrate than at the bottom; it is a characteristic shape produced by faster Bosch deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) processes. Since eG ViaCoat is able to demonstrate excellent step coverage on reentrant structures, it allows high etch rate Bosch processes to be used, cutting the costs of DRIE steps by up to 50%. These cost savings in the faster DRIE steps are in addition to the cost savings made in the copper seed metallization step. Alchimer also successfully demonstrated the subsequent void-free copper fill on these deep reentrant TSV structures.

Steve Lerner, CEO of Alchimer, added, "We are very excited to be working with DALSA, who is not only a leader in the MEMS foundry business, but also a company committed to creating innovative technologies and quality products."

About Alchimer
Alchimer develops and markets innovative chemical formulations, processes and IP for the electrochemical deposition of nanometric films to create copper interconnects in semiconductor wafers and through silicon vias for 3D packaging. The company is a spin-off from the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique. Founded in 2001, it won the First National Award for the Creation of High Tech Companies from the French Minister of Research and Industry and is a Red Herring Top 100 European Company. For more information, visit: www.alchimer.com.

About DALSA Corporation
DALSA is an international leader in high performance digital imaging and semiconductors with approximately 1000 employees world-wide. Established in 1980, the company designs, develops, manufactures, and markets digital imaging products and solutions, in addition to providing semiconductor products and services. DALSA's core competencies are in specialized integrated circuit and electronics technology, software, and highly engineered semiconductor wafer processing. Products and services include image sensor components (CCD and CMOS); electronic digital cameras; vision processors; image processing software; and semiconductor wafer foundry services for use in MEMS, high-voltage semiconductors, image sensors and mixed-signal CMOS chips. DALSA is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "DSA" and has its corporate offices in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

For more information, please contact:

Patrick Myles
Vice President, Corporate Communications
DALSA Corporation
Tel: (519) 886-6001 Ext. 2177
Fax: (519) 886-3972
E-mail: patrick.myles@dalsa.com
Web: www.dalsa.com

Emmanuel Guidotti
Alchimer S.A., 15 rue du Buisson aux Fraises, F-91300 Massy, France
E-mail: emmanuel.guidotti@alchimer.com
Tel: +33 1 69 75 43 43
Fax: +33 1 60 11 07 52
Web: www.alchimer.com

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2008.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2008.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

British Journal of Photography's - Vision 2008

2008-11-04T00:10:00.001Z

Just three days to go before Vision 2008 – British Journal of Photography’s annual event for aspiring pro photographers

More than a thousand visitors are expected at Islington's Business Design Centre on Friday 07 November as BJP opens the doors to Vision, its annual event for aspiring pro photographers. Vision 2008 offers young professionals the chance to get their portfolios reviewed by experts from across the industry, take advantage of one-day only deals on the latest photographic kit and hear top photographers speak about their careers.

Attendees will hear a speech by Jacob Aue Sobol, one of Magnum Photos' rising stars and the subject of this week's cover story. He won the Leica European Publishers’ Award for his I, Tokyo project, which will be published by Dewi Lewi next month and which he’ll present at Vision. He’ll also present images from his first, celebrated, book, Sabine, which documents life in an isolated Greenland community.

Simon Roberts will also give the first public viewing of his latest photo series, We English - a follow-up Motherland, his acclaimed book exploring Russian identity. This time he's focused on ideas of nationhood closer to home, taking to the road in a motorhome for six months with his wife and daughter, 'documenting landscapes where groups of people congregate for a common purpose and shared experience'.

Another keynote speaker will be photojournalist Sam Faulkner, who gained wider attention for his Cocaine Wars project in July this year after winning BJP's first Project Assistance Award, sponsored by Nikon. Having documented the cocaine business for more than seven years - work that has already taken him to Colombia, Haiti, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil - he took a further trip to Mexico, funded by the award's £5000 prize.

Last, but not least, acclaimed photographer Simon Norfolk will speak about his work. Best known for his stunning large format images exploring the socio-economic effects of militarism, Norfolk has been acclaimed as the leading British photographer of his generation. He'll talk about the ethos behind his work, the ideas behind his latest series, Full Spectrum Dominance, and how he's built a career shooting challenging subjects sold in some of the world's leading fine art photo galleries.

Vision will also feature its usual mix of portfolio reviews, seminars, career advice and product demonstrations. Confirmed guests at this year's event include Canon, Nikon and Sony, as well as Apple, the British Institute of Professional Photographers, Blurb, Direct Lighting, Epson, Hasselblad, Hewlett Packard, Magnum Photos, The Photographers’ Gallery, Profoto, Rapid Group, Spectrum, the Association Of Photographers and Vice Magazine.

This year Vision is at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London. Tickets cost £10. For more information and to pay online, visit bjp-online.com/vision.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2008.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2008.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

New high definition line of filters from Hoya

2008-10-21T23:21:00.000+01:00

Press release

Hoya have just unveiled a new range of HD – High Definition – filters, available in Protector, UV and Circular Polariser in sizes from 52mm through to 82mm.

These new HD filters feature 99.35% light transmission from an 8-layer anti-reflective, multi-coating which help reduce reflections off the surface of the glass, allowing you to capture more light in your photos. This HD coating also keeps the filter both water and oil repellent and scratch & stain Resistant.

Technical Specifications:

HARDENED GLASS
HD filters feature hardened optical glass that has 4 times the breaking strength in ANSI standardised testing (ANSI Z80.3 : 2001) where steel balls of varying size and weight were dropped from a height of 50 inches onto the glass.

HIGH TRANSPARENCY POLARISING FILM
The same polarising film used in the latest high definition LCD TV screens. It has 25% higher light transmission than standard polarising film used in current photographic filters.

HARDENED 8 LAYER WATERPROOF MULTI-COATING THAT IS SCRATCH & STAIN RESISTANT
Newly developed industry leading 8-layer multi-coating yields an average light transmission rate of 99.35% between 400 and 700nm (visible spectrum).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hoya HD filters are available immediately in:
Protector, UV and CIR-PL in standard sizes from 52mm to 82mm.
Suggested Retail Prices from £32.99 for 52mm Protector.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For review samples please contact Jane Nicholson at
jane@intro2020.co.uk
Intro 2020 Limited. Priors Way, Maidenhead. Berkshire SL6 2HR
Tel: 01628 674411

www.intro2020.co.uk

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2008.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2008.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Diluted, Uncharted Waters

2008-09-29T19:04:00.002+01:00

Stock photography; rights managed picture libraries, royalty free and micro stock agencies.

by
Jonathan Eastland

Stock photographers are creative people. Those who survive do so on a mixture of imaginative visual interpretation and business acumen accrued over time. The longer they can stay in the game, the more creative (and or obsessed) they become and the more acumen (business experience) they acquire. Some get rich on it; most toddle along and are intermittently in and out of the game.

It isn't an easy game to stay in and prosper from. The individual hoping to do so will need gallons of stamina, dreams and aspirations beyond normal sensibility, a colossal network of contacts, and the visual and mental ability to be able to turn the ordinary into something special, and, be able to continue to do all of this on a regular basis for decades. It's hard but wonderful work; a privileged position if one can pull it off.

One of the major problems for would-be stock photographers however, is that they often lack the business acumen and or contacts needed to sell their work and today, they lack the knowledge required to build and script internet web sites which would enable them to do so. Hence, the plethora of service sites (e.g. Clickpic, AmazingInternet.) with ready made template driven web pages aligned to e-commerce picture sales and back office admin tools. For a monthly subscription fee, individuals can enter the game, uploading a few images to basic sites. From there, it's dream on. Photographers don't make real money from these portals but it does give those without the aforementioned web building skills a simple route to the world wide window display. All the individual has to do now, is wait for a punter to spot the picture he/she just cannot live without.

So let me tell you a true story before we go further into this minefield.

More than forty years ago, a very young would-be photographer began to carve out the beginnings of a new career in the visual world. The Writers & Artists Year Book, Willings Press Guide, a monthly private subscription journal, the Photojournalist, membership of the fledgling Bureau of Freelance Photographers and a book entitled How to Freelance in Photography provided the much needed inside information on how photographs were sold to the press and publishing world. Very early on, the young would-be photographer began submitting b+w prints to Barnaby's Picture Library and from them, received many enthusiastic notes of encouragement for the high standard of interesting submissions the agency was sure would sell soon.

A few short years down the line, the now independent, barely established would-be and mostly impecunious photographer with a very young family knocked on the door of an international press agency with a demand that it hire the young visitor and send same off to war torn foreign parts. The request was turned down flat and countered with an alternative offer which at first seemed desperately unattractive to the photographer. It was that, specialists in a particular field would always be needed and the applicant in question had some skills which others lacked.

The applicant was me. The skills learned from an earlier, and what had seemed, promising career, had been picked up from childhood while messing about in boats and later, in the Merchant Navy. For reasons I will not go into now, the sea did not figure in any of my plans to be a photographer. The whole idea of it was anathema to my dreams and aspirations of becoming a top news, fashion, sports, war or whatever photo-journalist.

But when times are hard and you have run out of childhood train sets to sell to pay the rent and you desperately want to keep on doing what you know and love most, you have to think again. Thus was dug the foundation of a long and lasting relationship with that news agency, the establishment of my own news and feature service and the setting in place of bricks that would ultimately lead to the building of a specialist picture library.

In the years which followed, I was able to do the thing I most enjoyed far beyond any horizon I had dreamed of when the decision to do it was first made on the sandy shore of Lake Maracaibo. These were wonderful years filled with travel and the excitement of meeting new people in new places, of covering events and producing results my knowledge of the sea had enabled. My own agency did well. Publishers from all over the world came or called to request pictures and stories. The bank manager who had once suggested I give it all up was more than happy to advance capital whenever I needed it, no questions asked. Sub-prime? It's as old as the hills.

But then, things changed. I also changed. And these two moments more or less collided.

First, along came cheap magazine colour reproduction. The b+w images which were the mainstay of agency and library work at the time and which could be easily and cheaply replicated for distribution, were suddenly no longer in demand. Clients wanted colour and they wanted originals and they mostly wanted them exclusively. I kept up the coverage of events and mimicked what was happening with the technology in the international news agencies; Shoot on colour neg and service the clients with colour prints or film positives. My clients didn't like the change. They did not have the technology or the know-how to obtain good quality repro from this material. In house pre-press operators got better results, they said, from reversal materials on new laser drum scanners their bosses had invested hundreds of thousands of pounds into, so the call for trannies came thick and fast. If I could avoid it, I refused to hand over originals. A costly duplication system was set up but more or less at the same time, many magazine clients had reduced the number of news pages so they could fill them with more feature material and allocate more advertising pages. It eat into revenue returns which in turn meant one had to take a longer and harder look at the calendar of events to be covered which would turn a decent profit.

A lot of other incidental changes also took place throughout the late 1980s and early 90s and not least of these was that I no longer had the desire to go chasing around the world to cover the sort of events I had been attending for the best part of 25 years. There were many other things I now wanted to do photographically but it wasn't easy to fit these into a slimmer operating budget. And then there was that other thing.

Digital.

In 1975, I had been shown the skeletal outline of the technology which would revolutionise the way things were done and which now rules the roost. Closely watching the electronic changes taking place through the years at the Associated Press had, in a small way, enabled me to maintain some enthusiasm for the future, as well as, to keep going when things looked really bad for the rest of the world. My picture library had grown and the only way to administer it efficiently was to appoint a manager. Now we had computers they could be used to create a database. Filing was more efficient and requests more reliably serviced. This was crucial as I had learned years before that when a picture researcher made an enquiry for images, there was usually, no deadline. They wanted the images then and there. Same or next day delivery was a given. And people would not come back for another bite if, the first time around, you made them wait a week.

And suddenly it seemed, the phone went dead. The enquiries dried up. Analogue images lay dormant in metal filing cabinets. I survived on day to day events coverage and producing features for a handful of clients still willing to pay good money for my expertise. I started a small book publishing division with dreams and aspirations really beyond my financial capability, but which nonetheless and to this day, keeps a fire in the grate. Like many others, I had underestimated the power of the fledgling world wide web to march rough shod over personal client relations as well as its potential as a tool for efficient distribution.

New experts and service businesses offering opportunites to get on board www sprang up. For the lone entrepreneur, the cost was high. Digitalising thousands of film images and buying into a full blown e-commerce database driven system with all the associated security necessary to protect intellectual property rights required a down payment of several hundred thousand dollars. Today, it's a fifth of that figure, but still eighty grand on the table. Only big players with deep pockets, such as Mark Getty, who reportedly once made the analogy that images would be the oil of the 21st century, would make the technology work. For the rest, how long they might survive in an increasingly competitive world without substantial electronic infrastructure to deliver the goods, was anyone's guess.

Medium and small generalist picture libraries without proper e-commerce web systems would find the going tough in the short term. The lucky ones got bought by Getty, Corbis or Jupiter and their collections amalgamated into the larger stock holdings. Growing content was the thing. The unlucky or obstinate libraries struggled on and if you follow industry performance month by month as I do, you will know that some of the better known names in this small arena continue to go pear shaped. Bankrupted by the times we live in.

And for the independent lone wolf stock photographer, it is the times we live in which should ring alarm bells on the awareness agenda.

There are more printed journals and magazines out there than ever before: More specialist low circulation journals and more up-market glossies than one can keep track of. They all want and demand images to fill their pages. From where I stand however, it seems to me more and more of these, whatever they are, want more and more images at lower and lower cost; or better still, for northing. In the newsprint sector, diminishing advertising revenues force down picture fees and there is now clear evidence of papers regularly using royalty free micro-stock.

Ah! Micro-stock. Stock imagery that is sold for peanuts in a variety of sizes by the likes of iStockphoto.com, a division of Getty Images and which now has a stock content of 5.9m pictures. It's a mere splash in the ocean compared with Getty's colossal 75million plus archive. But there are many others in the micro-stock business with large collections which are added to daily ranging in size from, 10,000 to 1m. I have trouble keeping tabs on the few thousand digital images already uploaded to our own site, never mind the 70 odd year workload worth of analogue images in the library still awaiting digitalisation.

Add to these figures the trillions of free images which now circulate on the internet and one can easily begin to see the real problems facing the many photographers who want to earn a living from what they do best. And it is no longer a question of who can produce the best picture of a dandelion; it seems to me from looking at a lot of stuff that gets into print, any old picture of a dandelion will do. An appreciative culture for great images is as old fashioned as a bakelite telephone handset or a valve radio. We are back to the smudge on the page. If it's colourful and the right shape to fit the slot, it will do. Thus, accountants and business managers dictate to picture researchers the places they must go to find stock.

The largest, cheapest suppliers will do. In the trade, such suppliers are called a 'preferred vendor'. Get a good subscription deal from Getty, Corbis or iStockphoto and clients can pretty much download anything needed from the most obscure to the most popular types of image for a few dollars or less. The magazine or newspaper reader doesn't seem to care one iota about aesthetic image quality content so long as the pages are filled with stuff. The hands of picture buyers are tied to management directives. Result? A world of print in which a plethora of mostly cheap, junk images dominate.

It comes as no surprise then, to learn that PhotoShelter's year long battle to make inroads into the stock photography business failed and they are pulling out. I see their plight in the same light as any other picture agency which has recently gone down the pan. And there are more than enough of those biting the dust almost daily. PhotoShelter couldn't make enough sales to maintain forward momentum and as their CEO Allen Murabayashi said in his blog on the subject, "Licensing a photo is not a simple proposition. It is not like selling a widget." He says he remains defiantly stubborn on the micro-stock front in spite of PhotoShelter's recent experiences, but as Alamy has shown, micro-stock and royalty free is a burgeoning commercial force to be reckoned with whether you like it or not. Even big players have had to find smart ways to deal with that advancing threat and they are no where over the hill with it yet. Save for a handful of enterprises with unique image collections, micro-stock will ultimately win through. Why?

It's a simple business case primary school pupils could easily work out. For too long, photographers and picture agencies, have relied upon a notion of their market place being a closed shop. Closed that is, to a relatively small group of relatively high paying customers. The facts today are very different and blatantly shouting in the face of non believers.

For every modest to high paying print client, there are at least 10,000 individual customers looking for images to use on blogs, newsletters, small town adverts, booklets, cards to send to Grandma and what have you. Those customers never could afford the kind of reproduction fees working stock photographers or their agents might have asked of them in the past, nor did they want to pay those fees, especially when, as many often did and some still believe, they could take a picture 'just as good'. But this market is not afraid to stuff pride in its pocket. Royalty free micro-stock availability saves time and trouble; customers recognise the difference between a picture they could take which might do the job and was adequate, is now complimented by a vast raft of material that is so much better. A couple of dollars spent on one image for Grandma's homemade card saves the time, hassle and costs of doing it yourself. There is therefore, as businesses like iStockphoto have successfully shown, the potential to make millions of dollars from millions of customers rather than a handful of high payers. As Google gears up with a plan to bring the underdeveloped world into this scenario, customer volumes will grow, far outstripping the traditional market place for picture sales. And it will happen soon.

For the enthusiastic stock photographer, or for that matter, any photographer hoping to maintain some sort of a lifestyle based on the ability to press a button, the foregoing may paint a dismally depressing picture ..no pun intended. But the fact is nothing much has changed since I submitted my first images to Barnaby's all those years ago. In ten years, that picture library never sold a single picture of mine that I know of and in the end, I asked for them all back. Within a few weeks I had begun to sell them myself. It taught me a lesson early on. Dross can sell when you find a market for it. Note, I said when, not 'if'.

So what are the real differences between then and now? Today's library content volumes are far higher than 40 years back and the market place is colossal in comparison to its size in those times. The market continues to grow while smaller generalist libraries stand still or fall by the wayside. Then, you knew mostly, who comprised the market. Now, you cannot be sure who is looking or, at what they are looking; and the control of who the stuff is sold to is out of the hands of the photographer.

The demand for all kinds of images continues to grow; stock I would have binned a few years back ticks over earning pennies here and there; others (not mine!) are rocket powered and click with the public imagination, being downloaded thousands of times and earning for their authors, large sums; probably far higher than the same image would have done placed exclusively with a rights managed agency. The best thing about this however is the fact that one no longer needs to spend time and money marketing these images. All energy can be focused on producing the goods; finding new ways to photograph the dandelion. As manufacturers sell more computers and more owners sign up to an ISP, so the chances of another download increase.

What is the next phase?

There is no room for more business models like PhotoShelter hoping to build a different aesthetic genre of stock content. Some photographers will argue that what they do is so different it deserves special attention and higher remuneration. So be it. I think that argument is crap even if a handful of photographers do very nicely thank you for the moment. There isn't anything out there or coming down the tube which has not already been done and in a way, I am on the side of the guy who wins a contract to photograph an event but has to give away the copyright in the images to the client. There is an analogy there between shooting stuff you make available for stock and realising its worth is how many times it can be downloaded. The more the better, but if you place a rights managed restriction on it because you think it is worth more than the next guy's picture, the chances are it will not sell in today's climate.

To understand this clearly, you need to think more about what you are shooting, why and how. A body of work about something of enduring interest to a lot of people and which remains exclusive because of your exclusive access to it, retains some value a long time into the future. A body of work which is essentially a collection of images the subject of which anyone could access to shoot at any time and is of little or no interest to a broad audience, is potentially worthless. But of course, this idea may be endlessly dissected and apportioned its degree of worth relative to opportunity and circumstance; right time, right place, etc., Out of the thousands of pictures in my own library, I probably have no more than a handful I could honestly say are unrepeatable. For the rest, someone else was there, the idea has been copied, it's a very similar subject/interpretation and so on. Most are not unique in that context.

So we are back to numbers. Volume versus worth; quantity versus quality. And I am not talking here about technical quality, even if that is a high priority on an agency list of submission terms and conditions. I'm talking about the kind of aesthetic content quality which differentiates the wood from the trees; the kind of bell ringing stuff that stops people dead in their tracks and makes them look twice. It's a tough nut to crack on a regular basis but it should nonetheless be the aim of photographers who must then go out and explain and demonstrate the same lore to professional picture buyers.

Achieving this aim will not increase the number of big agencies through which images can be sold for high fees; the ones which are already established will remain and none of them are being complacent about their positions; they are constantly looking for new ways to move more stuff more quickly than they already do - one image on average, downloaded from iStockphoto every three seconds...!

I do believe however, in spite of this dire scenario and perhaps because I am an optimist by nature, there is enough apple pie out there for everyone who wants a slice. It may be tough to get, but the fact is that the pie is now very, very large.

These days, I find myself constantly thinking about how to develop the thread of an idea into something of substance capable of earning a penny or two. Such are the tiny returns of micro, I can only think about capturing those ideas on digital, and the closer to home that can happen, the better. Less expense, more profit. But making use of the thousands of dormant analogue images in the library is also a work in progress.

To this end, I long ago dismissed so called expert advice that advocated negatives and trannies needed special high quality scanning to make them usable in print or on screen. Proof is in the print pudding where the micro differences between a negative scanned on a supermarket mini-lab for fractions of a penny and the same image scanned on a drum by a specialist lab for several pounds, is neither here nor there. Yes, there is a difference. The higher cost scan reproduces marginally better in everyday repro, yet for most uses, that margin makes no significant difference to the end result. Customers still buy or subscribe to the magazines and they rarely if ever complain about today's high standards of image reproduction.

Nowadays, I scan the trannies myself, but if supermarkets had the software to do this, I would hand the job over to them just as I do now for colour negatives. Frame for frame, it is the most cost effective and quickest way to get the job done for thousands of frames. A rights managed only agency partner in Europe does well with them, bringing in a reasonable revenue contribution from specialist selections. Frames of general subjects are also distributed through a variety of micro agencies, which, as I have mentioned, are downloaded periodically. But there's no real rhyme or reason why some of those agencies take grainy film images in preference to perfectly clean, and newer digital ones. I'm not wasting time on trying to figure it out either, any more than I am wondering why one image was taken and another six rejected. One day selection seems arbitrary, the next vaguely rational and the next, well, you just wonder which side of the bed the monitor fell out of.

Apart from news and sport coverage which appears in some quarters to be threatened by citizen journalism and the advance of video technology, the current demand for quality still pictures from advertising and editorial sectors remains high. Second guessing the futures market is another matter, but I think on the back of what is known, continuing internet expansion will increase server and delivery capacity exponentially; this is bound to create a further dilution for more expensive rights managed content; for micro agencies it's a different scenario. They rely on a continuous contribution stream from individuals so content here will grow massively too. Some big players currently dominate in this field but the software technology to power similar businesses is out there and available to anyone with money to invest. The waters to the east of Suez remain uncharted, but there are already signs of other players sitting eagerly on the sidelines.

ends.

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2008.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2008.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

New: RICOH GR Digital II Creative Set

2008-09-18T23:59:00.000+01:00

Press Release
London, 11th September 2008

With the GR DIGITAL II Creative Set Ricoh presents a comprehensive solution for photographers wishing to employ to the full the high performance range of professional cameras in the digital compact class.

September 11th 2008 – RICOH INTERNATIONAL B.V. launches the new “GR DIGITAL II Creative Set” thus emphasising once again the exceptional properties of this compact digital camera system. Along with the GR DIGITAL II the Creative Set includes the wide angle converter 0.75x (GW-1), the lens hood with adapter (GH-1), the new external viewﬁnder (GV-1) and strap (ST-2).

Like its multi-award winning predecessor, the GR DIGITAL, the GR DIGITAL II impresses with its uncompromising image quality and professional performance. Supported by the image processor GR Engine II, the newly developed CCD sensor with a resolution of 10.01 million pixels stands for extremely detailed resolution, natural colour and tonal value reproduction as well as a drastic reduction in noise even with high ISO sensitivity.

The GR DIGITAL II is highly esteemed by both committed hobby photographers and professional users especially because of its light-intensive 2.4/5.9 mm GR lens (35mm equivalent: 28mm). Due to the extreme sharpness of its image and its minimal distortion value, this lens exploits to the full the performance range of this top class digital camera.
The classic body which is only 25mm thick and is constructed from a magnesium alloy is robust and ergonomically designed to support conﬁdent handling in any photographic situation. The new functions of the GR DIGITAL II are practice-oriented, e.g. the electronic alignment aid for landscape and portrait shots or the three photo formats (4:3, 3:2 and 1:1) to chose from, all of which all enable storage in RAW mode.

The versatility of the GR DIGITAL II, however, is especially enhanced by the accessories included in the exclusive GR DIGITAL II Creative Set. Thus the wide angle converter perfectly complements the GR high-performance lens with its focal length of 28mm. It reduces the focal distance by a factor of 0.75x to the super-wide angle focal distance of 21mm and is therefore especially suitable for photos of sweeping landscapes, city perspectives or shots of large groups of people. Needless to say, the wide angle converter is perfectly adjusted to suit the performance of the GR lens. The main strength of the compact optical viewﬁnder GV-1 is its ability to capture a motif quickly even under difficult lighting conditions which makes it possible to hold the camera in a way analogous to 35mm cameras.

GR DIGITAL II Creative Set – the professional camera system for extreme quality requirements. Available for £599.99 inc Vat

Contents of the GR Digital II Creative Set:
Camera GR DIGITAL II, Rechargeable lithium-ion battery (DB-60), Battery charger (BJ-6), Wide angle converter (GW-1), External viewﬁnder (GV-1), Lens hood & adapter (GH-1), Leather case (GC-1) and Strap (ST-2)

Accessories included:
USB Cable / AV Cable / Handstrap / Software CD-ROM / Instruction Manuals

GR Digital II Creative Set is available now.

Ricoh UK LTD. (PMMC UK)
Ricoh House, 1 Plane Tree Crescent, Feltham, Middlesex, TW13 7HG United Kingdom
 Contact UK: KL Associates
5 Hall Drive, Long Buckby, Northants, NN6 7QU United Kingdom 
TEL : +44 (0)1327 844 880
Mrs. Kathryn Lamb
E-mail: kathryn@klassociates.com 

To buy prints and see stunning rights protected photo images of our maritime world, art, travel, street, life and special photography collections.
Visit the AjaxNetPhoto Picture Archive Gallery

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2008.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2008.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.

Future Perfect

2008-09-04T19:33:00.003+01:00

by
Jonathan Eastland

Photokina 2008 is almost upon us once more and there is much talk in the wings of how silly some manufacturers who have invested heavily in recent times into the production of special glass for the smaller APS-C type sensors are beginning to look now that Nikon is ramping up its full frame programme.

It hardly seems likely a company like Nikon is about to dump its DX line and focus all attention on FX. Enthusiasts and many pros are more than satisfied with the image quality the smaller sensor delivers and many also prefer the slightly less bulky hardware designs of the DX systems. With new models for this format being introduced now (D90), the speculative scenario seems way off track.

What I find more curious is the recent announcement from Olympus and Panasonic concerning their micro-four thirds system aimed, it seems, squarely at capturing a segment of the market that does not want to be encumbered by hardware that will not fit into a handbag. The companies involved are going down this road because they can and no doubt the tactic will, in the short to medium term, jack up additional and much needed sales.

In the past, I have been sorely tempted on occasion by the innovative design of Panasonic's L1 camera (aka Leica Digilux 3) and although in the several tests I made of both models the 25mm f/1.4 Leica designed lens used produced very good image results, I have not so far been convinced of 4/3rds format ability to better what I can get out of a battered Nikon D1X when the image is scaled up to A3+. And with a D2X, D300 and now D3 or D700 there's no argument.

Indeed, in just about every large scale magazine page repro I have seen from the 4/3rds format, including those from an Olympus E3, the images look soft. Exhibition prints larger than this made from similar sources appear to suffer the same degradation; prints I have inspected made for promotions on Olympus trade fair and exhibition stands lack the micro detail punch one looks for.

For run-of-the-mill, day-to-day newsprint, magazine or book repro quality for a wide range of subjects, how an image looks on the page for a lot of photographers is not an issue and even less so for the majority of readers. But for some shooters it is and always has been. For them, quality repro is the name of the game.

Thus, within the camera manufacturing arena, a lot of soul searching is going on. Some icy cold, heart tugging decisions are being made which will eventually redraw the roadmap depicting just who is at the top of a very skinny tree and who those are hidden in the undergrowth.

For the masses of Dslr users, Nikon and Canon will continue their skirmishing for pole position. Pentax is a rising star, but it will become bogged down again soon unless it launches a full frame sensor Dslr. Sony wants to be a player and a full frame model is an imminent expectation from their stable. Perhaps, with the addition of high performance glass from Zeiss, Sony will carve a niche for itself but it will never be much of a threat to the players at the top of the tree. They face the same public relations problem Minolta endured for years. Great kit, but not a lot of pro users.

For the rest, Photokina 2008 may mark the beginning of the end for some companies who until now, have enjoyed a certain success built on small format analogue reputations.

Foremost among them is Leica who, apart from profits made on the back of bijou digital products of late, have been fighting for survival in a world now dominated by digital imagery. Currently, the only hi-end product the company has in this line is rangefinder based and while there is probably a large enough market out there to keep production and sales of it on tick-over short term, I cannot for the life of me see how it will keep the company afloat in the more difficult times coming. Apart from anything else, the M8 needs a serious make-over to bring its Jpeg image specs up to scratch.

Just recently, working on the streets of the City of Birmingham with Tiananmen tank-man photographer Jeff Widener, I was reminded of just how quiet the shutter of an M7 is. I know that it is quiet, but when working with that camera or any other analogue Leica-M, the level of quietness is not as apparent as when someone else is using one only a few feet away. You simply cannot hear the shutter above the kerfuffle of ordinary street noise on a slow day! The M8, on the other hand, according to my Mac sound recordings, is little different from a Nikon without mirror slap and it's definately noisier than the old motor driven Konica Hexar. A modification to the shutter noise levels which also reduces the fastest shutter time of the M8 has been available for a few months, but the minuscule difference this makes in practice has to be questioned for the price charged. The camera needs a serious revamp and an M8.2 isn't it.

For quite a lot of users of the M8, I have the impression the current unavailability of large to very large maximum aperture lenses of focal lengths appropriate for in-your-face reportage is another issue. Leica have the know-how to resolve this problem, which might, with the same stroke, were exotic wide angle focal length objectives to be offered, also help solve some of the image noise issues of the M8 by enabling coal-hole events to be documented without the need to crank up ISO settings. Bearing in mind the past 50+ year history of f/0.95 lenses and their cost in relative terms, don't expect anything of this nature from Solms, should it come, to be cheap.

Satisfying a handful of digital rangefinder shooters is one thing. The next thing is, if you're a company that wants to stay in the limelight of quality precision miniature mechanical and optical engineering, what to do with the stuff that made the company in the first place; the analogue cameras which still offer discerning users a dream-like photography experience unobtainable with anything else?

The Leica MP and the M7, according to insiders in Solms, are steady sellers. There is still - if internet auction sites were the only places one could go to obtain statistics - a healthy market for the sale of film and, perhaps more importantly, an incrementally expanding market for used rangefinder cameras. Thus, it may be safe to say in spite of the writing on the wall, the MP and the M7 will continue to be produced at Solms or in Wetzlar, but their off-the-shelf retail price is bound to see a hefty jump in the coming months. That said, I do have a dark niggling suspicion that once current stock of these serial products has vanished from dealer shelves, buying a new one may only be possible to special order.

This still leaves Leica pretty much where it is; sidelined in a corner of the market place. What people who love them want to know is, where is the digital R camera? Some do, but most don't want to use their wonderful R type lenses on a 4/3rds dlsr camera made in the Far East. They want the real thing and preferably with a full frame sensor.

Leica have kept about as quiet as any company could be on this issue. There are still no significant rumours, but a conversation I had with both the CEO of Jenoptik and executives at Sinar last year provoked some heavy discussion about where Leica might go with this topic.

Looking at the picture objectively, it's obvious to me the market for small and miniature format Dslrs - i.e. 4/3rds, APS-C type and Full Frame - is pretty well sewn up. There is enough variety of hardware out there to satisfy the needs of the majority of users who have little or no need to pursue bill board sized reproduction (and if they did want to, can easily do so with the current crop of tools.). Bringing in a new full frame Dslr doesn't, in my opinion, add much advantage to the existing basket of goodies or, perhaps more importantly for Leica, enable the company to stay healthy. Yes, they would get a few thousand sales, but Leica's market is finite in this area. Leica glass matched to a sensor capable of producing higher image quality; not just a little bit better than already obtainable from a D3 or an EOS 1D but closer to Hasselblad or Sinar, is probably their only way forward.

Leica are no strangers to the production of glass for larger than 35mm formats. Company history is littered with examples of weird and wonderfully exotic pieces made for surveillance and medical use mounted on cameras most of us have never seen or heard of (Leitz KE28A 6X6). Match this opto mechanical expertise to the kind of electronic technology capable of being produced by a company like Jenoptik and you have the potential to produce something special for a small but elite market place.

What photographers with major advertising clients want is the kind of digital image quality which only very high capital investment can currently purchase. There are enough of these shooters and enough clients with burgeoning advertising budgets to warrant a manufacturer of specialised tools to think carefully before hastily endeavouring to follow the crowd. Leica tried that (with the Digital Modul-R) and it didn't work. They almost certainly will not adopt the Panasonic L10 4/3rds dslr and sell it with an adapter to pacify R type lens owners. I think it is more likely Leica will come to Photokina 2008 with a new digital reflex camera.

Why do I think this? It would make economic sense for a company of Leica's size and expertise in a field where competition to sell digital variations of the traditionally based 35mm sized product is cut-throat to the extent of becoming a massacre. Leica's long silence on the subject of the future of its R-type reflex is another indicator they have been giving the whole subject deep thought though I am not convinced they are yet ready to dump the R line. From a business point of view it would make sense because even if the company is only able to satisfy a couple of thousand orders a year, they will initially be able to charge a premium for the product, its accessories and associated services, just as the competition in the medium format field is already doing.

But it's unlikely I would put my money on such a tool. What I would like from Leica is a digital version of the MP or M7 and I don't mind if that comes with a small crop factor just so long as it doesn't have an electric shutter arming motor. I don't want a rangefinder camera to which I have to add a grip or some other thummy device which gets hooked in clothing and helicopter door frames. I just want the original M design - plain, quiet and simple.

As having this wish fulfilled anytime soon seems so remote, I have looked closely at Sigma's DP1 compact with its full sized Foveon sensor and fixed 28mm f/4 lens. Suffice to say that of all the hi-end compacts currently available featuring a fixed wide angle or short zoom lens, the image quality obtained from the Sigma has them all beat by a wide margin. What the tool does not have is the ergonomic and functional layout of the Ricoh GR2 or GX200 or their comparatively rapid reacting auto-focus. And one other thing; I do much prefer the aesthetic of the 4:3 format ratio of the Ricoh to the near wide screen ratio of the Sigma.

Nonetheless, it seems to me after several weeks of use at home and abroad, the DP1 has plenty to offer. Attempting to use the tool as one might a point and shoot will get you nowhere. One should take the more measured handling approach, learning its little AF foibles or trusting its manual focus system. If there is any kind of analogy at all, using the DP1 is like using an old film folder where object distance has to be guessed and set on the lens with some reference to depth of field and therefore, the setting of an appropriate f/stop, and then, to remember to wind on after each shot using a red frame number window. It isn't quite this mentally demanding, but it's close.

Of the hundreds of frames made with this camera, probably 60% were technically excellent; the remainder faulted by my own haste to bag the frame and forgetting momentarily that the tool simply doesn't have the AF muscle of some other products. It is not a camera I would be using for grab shots at a wedding. There has been talk of Sigma producing a similar sized model with a longer lens but I don't see the point. The DP1 might benefit from an extra half stop maximum aperture but as it is, the 28mm glass turns in a result as good as most users could want, even in low light with the ISO notched up to 400. I've had no hesitation in scaling jpeg images up to full DPS with the resulting repro appearance being far better than any equivalent obtained with a GRD II. Another major benefit is that the Sigma lens is, for all practical purposes, virtually distortion free.

As mentioned previously, smaller cameras with hi-end capability are the name of the game for several manufacturers. Olympus have been on this road for some years. I don't think the legacy of Maitani's Pen F system has ever really been buried and now Micro-Four Thirds is on the cards, there is an expectation abroad of some really exciting products to come. Will they be small enough to worry Ricoh or Sigma? I don't know and it probably doesn't matter, but you'd have trouble fitting a Pen F in a shirt pocket.

© Ajaxnetphoto.com 2008.
To buy prints and see stunning rights protected photo images of our maritime world, art, travel, street, life and special photography collections.
Visit the AjaxNetPhoto Picture Archive Gallery

Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2008.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2008.
This content may NOT be used in any media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed user.