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Nikon Rumors Site

Full product details can be found at capturenx.com.  60-day trial version can be downloaded here. Rob Galbraith has a quick review posted here.

One improvement I like very much is better integration between View NX and Capture NX. Users can now download images using Nikon transfer, sort, rate, and label images in View NX. The ratings (stars) and labels (0-9) are now visible in Capture NX2. Unfortunately Capture NX2 still does not support full screen viewing in browser.

Just a friendly reminder: if you edit and save files in Capture NX2 and decide not to purchase the upgrade, the saved NEF files might fail to open in older version of Capture NX. So keep a backup!

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Nikon Releases Capture NX2

Without doubt, Kodak is in greater pressure than others since it is balance sheet is still in red. However this might still be happening. If so, the fancy digital camera that you have been drooling over may become suddenly more expensive soon. Another reason to convince yourself you need to buy it now?

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Camera Price to Increase?

Nikon posted but later pulled the firmware Ver. 1.10 for D3 due to data corruption issues under certain circumstances. Some curious guys have found evidence of Nikon preparing a 24.4MP D3X model in the firmware. This has been picked up by engadget and wired.

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Latest Nikon D3 News

USA Today published an article by talk show host Kim Komando, listing some very common picture-taking scenarios photographers face and how they should be approached. Read: Think twice before taking pictures in public.

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Think Twice Before Taking Pictures in Public

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NX101 - A First Course in Nikon’s Capture NX

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Capture NX Quick and Dirty Dust Spot Removal

PhotoME has an impressive feature list. Some highlights are:

• Support multiple image formats, including all common RAW formats.
• Show auto focus point
• Support GPS data and one-click shooting location display in Google Map and Google Earth
• Browser integration to allow viewing of metadata of photos displayed in your web browser
• Windows Explorer integration for fast and easy file opening
• Histogram display of selected color channels
• Meta data import and export
• Completely free!

If you are interested in checking out other EXIF editors, we have a list of free EXIF editors.

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PhotoME - Powerful and Free EXIF, IPTC, and ICC Metadata Editor

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Canon 450D / Rebel XSi Sample Gallery Posted at DPReview

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How to Make Splurging on a Digital Camera Pay for Itself

If you are still hesitant on buying the D300 for whatever reason, the review may finally help you make the decision.

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DPReview Posts Nikon D300 Review, Finally

• Always download and backup photos immediately after shooting if possible.
• Keep the backup copies of the photos separate from the camera and the other copy.
• Label or mark your camera, flash media, and accessories with your name and phone number.
• If your camera supports it, setup your camera to automatically tag your photos with your name and contact information in the EXIF metadata section of each photo.

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Cop Found Owner of a Lost Digital Camera with Precious Safari Photos

U Point powered Color Control Points, with easy-to-use controls that are directly placed on colors or objects in a photo, can be used by photographers to quickly adjust brightness, contrast or color in a fraction of the time needed by other tools or methods.

Nik Software has some video demonstrations on how Viveza and U-Point technology works. A 15-day trial version can be downloaded here.

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Nik Software Releases Viveza, Brings U-Point Technology to Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Users

Things may be different soon as Micron start to crack open the high end market. I would not be surprised to see an Aptina image sensor in Nikon DSLR cameras in the future.

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Micron Launches Aptina Imaging: A CMOS Image Sensor Division

A vendor in Malaysia has received the lens and posted a short review on PhotoMalaysia. In summary, the new version has:

• No screw drive hole for AF. AF motor is now built-in. This makes the lens compatible with Nikon D40, D40x, and the new D60 DSLR cameras.
• AF/MF switch. It is no longer needed to set the focus mode on camera. I doubt it can do focus override (typically only on AF-S lens) though.
• Smoother but much lower AF. I hope it can provide more precise auto-focus and the accurate distance information to the camera so the old problem can be avoided.

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Short Review of Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II (A16NII)

Notice for customers in the State of California

WARNING: Handling the cord on this product may expose you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.

Have you paid attention to this at all?

The existence of the label or warning on many products is the result of California “Proposition 65“, which basically requires all cords or cables that have surface contact layer with a lead content by weight of 0.03% (300 parts per million) or more come with a warning label, unless otherwise exempted. Usually, the lead is intentionally added to the plastic or rubber material used to cover the cord as a stabilizer and will have more than 300 ppm of lead by weight to be effective.

Similar warnings can also be found on the packaging of Nikon shutter release cable, TTL flash cord, etc. I am sure many similar products from other manufacturers have the same label. This is definitely not specific to Nikon products.

Although the warning is specifically addressed to customers in California,  the potential danger exists on all product sold elsewhere. Better safe than sorry.

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Nikon to California Customers: Wash Your Hands

For users who are not familiar with the software, the best place to start is obvious the Company website at http://www.lumapix.com/. FotoFusion software has three different license types for different users from fun-seeking hobbyists, very serious enthusiasts, to high-volume professionals with different price tags. Please read the detailed comparision chart for the feature differences and the prices.

For the list of new features and enhancements in Version 4.2, please read the update history (or press release in doc format). A demo version can be downloaded here.

From my limited experience using this software, I found it very intuitive and easy to use. The software not only excels at effort-less photo layout, but also offers frequently used photo editing features built-in so users can fine tune individual images without going to another photo editing software. It offers endless creative opportunities without requiring users to master complicated terms and languages typically associated with layout software. For digital photographers who are used to editing and sharing individual photos, creating scrapbooks or collages is a fun new way of enjoying digital photography.

Unfortunately Mac users are out of luck because the software is only available for PC (Windows) users.

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LumaPix® Releases Version 4.2 of FotoFusion Photo Editing Software

It appears that DPReview just started doing lens reviews but I am a little surprised to see the review of this lens coming from DPReview at this time (two years after its release), when many people are waiting for an already-late Nikon D300 review.

Based on the review, the lens is “about making some optical compromises to provide the broadest possible range in a single lens”. It is “nothing more than an expensive snapshot lens”, and it is for “he photographer who wants to shoot a little bit of everything and not have to change lenses”. I guess that’s quite accurate.

For reference, here are some other reviews of this lens:

• Review by Thom Hogan
• Review by Ken Rockwell
• Review by Camera Labs

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Nikon AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED Reviewed by DPReview

• Support for RAW images captured with the D60 has been added;
• When exposure compensation was adjusted from Base Adjustments > RAW Adjustments > Exposure Compensation while Picture Control settings were applied from Base Adjustments > Camera Adjustments > Picture Control, the sharpening effect was canceled. This issue has been resolved;
• When images captured with the D1 and an AI AF Fisheye Nikkor 16mm f/2.8D lens, Fisheye Lens could not be selected from Base Adjustments > Lens Adjustments. This issue has been resolved;
• An issue that prevented accurate display of some items in the Camera Settings palette has been resolved.

The time stamp on the update is “20/02/2008 09.38 AM”, which is obviously a local time in Asia. Adding the roughly 12 hour timezone difference, this update appears to have just been updated within hours of this post (~10:30PM MST 2/19/2008). I was not able to find the same update information on Nikon USA website. Perhaps I will see it when I wake up tomorrow morning.

I tried to download it (39.1MB), the download process went dead after completing ~2%. So unless you are patient, you probably want to wait and download it from your regional Nikon support site when it shows up.

Updated 2/22/2008: 

You can download the US Version for Windows and for Mac.

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Nikon Capture NX 1.3.2 is Released

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100 Photography Tips in 100 Days, Part II

• Moon shooting tips
• Full moon exposure

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Great Photo Opportunity: Total Lunar Eclipse Feb. 20, 2008

Nikon Capture NX has an easy-to-use red eye removal tool: RedEye Control Point. Most times it works well.  All you need to do is to place a red eye control point on each of the red eyes and set the proper radius. However, sometimes it leaves a green tint and other times it doesn’t work at all. In this tutorial, I will show you a red eye removal technique that is more flexible and always works (even on monkeys).

The problem

This photo of spider monkey was taken with a flash mounted directly on the camera using a telephoto zoom lens.  From the zoomed in portion of the photo, you can immediately see the red eye caused by the flash. Like this example, I found most “red” eyes are actually “orange” eyes. If you watch carefully, there are also some bright sparkles with purple fringes around them in the eye that is distracting. The technique I am going to show you here can also fix that problem.

Ineffective Red Eye Control Point

First I tried the RedEye Control Point by clicking on the RedEye Control Point toolbar icon (as shown below) then clicking on the red eye in the photo.

It obviously did not work as shown in the screen capture below. There is not much I can do with the RedEye Control Point in Capture NX besides radius adjustment.

The method that works!

Step 1. Select Filter->Black and White Conversion… from menu. Simply accept the default settings by clicking on the OK button. The B/W conversion filter effectively removes all color from the entire photo, including the red (orange) in the eye.

Step 2.  Click on the “+” icon next to the Selection Brush to select the plus mode selection brush. The Black and White effect totally disappears from the image.

Step 3. Right-click on the image to set the brush settings to Opacity 100%, hardness 0, and select a size that is roughly the size of the pupil. Zoom all the way in and paint over the red eye using the selection brush. As you paint, the B/W conversion effect will be re-applied to where you paint. If you accidentally paint outside of the eye, you can hold down the Alt key to temporally switch to the minus selection brush to paint it back. At the end,  if the result is satisfactory to you, you can stop right here. In my example, you will notice that the gray eye looks really strange. If this is the case, go on to the next step to fix it.

Step 4. Hold down the shift key and select Adjust->Light->Levels & Curves… from menu. This creates a linked adjustment that will be applied to the same selection created earlier for the B/W conversion using the selection brush. Darken the eye using either the curve adjustment (as shown) or by simply dragging the black point slider to the right until it is dark enough and looks right.

This is the Edit List showing the linked adjustments:

The final result

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Red Eye Removal in Capture NX

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Top 40 Photoshopped Images

While overall dimensions are confined to the absolute minimum, the new SP AF70-200mm F/2.8 zoom lens is packed with features that allow stress-free photography: a versatile MFD of just 37.4″ over the entire zoom range; best-in-class maximum macro magnification ratio of 1:3.1 at f=200mm; and an advantageous internal focusing (IF) system. The new tele-zoom lens covers a desirable focal length range of 70mm medium telephoto to 200mm telephoto when mounted on full-size format SLR cameras and a focal length range from 109mm to 310mm* ultra telephoto when mounted on a DSLR camera with an APS-C sized imager.

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Tamron Announces SP AF 70-200mm F/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro at PMA08