The Luminous Landscape - What's New

8 February, 2012 - New Cameras, and New Pricing from Sigma

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 15:04:48 EST

Sigma has announced that their controversial SD1 camera has been re-launched as the SD1 Merrill, in honour of Dick Merrill the late co-founder of Foveon. The new MSRP is $3,300, but the MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) will be $2,299, which likely means an actual retail price of around $2,000 when it's released in March. This is the price that it should have launched with last year.

This re-launch and price reduction quickly follows the recent passing of Sigma's co-founder and CEO Michihiro Yamaki. The new CEO is Kazuto Yamaki, the founder's son and the company's previous COO.

The SD1 has been highly controversial because of its very high price at launch. We reviewed the SD1 on these pages and discussed the price disconnect on these pages last summer.For additional perspective on the SD1 you should read Sean Reid's in-depth and insightful review at Reidreviews.com. Sean's site is subscription-based but well worth the modest investment.

Sigma has also announced that there will be a "points" program in new products for previous SD1 purchasers, a very appropriate and repairative strategy.

Unfortunately this repricing comes just one day after Nikon launched its exciting D800 and D800E. Without quibbling over megapixels, this will likely blunt the impact that a price-reduced SD1 might have. The new Nikon simply looks like a far superior device for a non dissimilar price. Sadly, too many months likely have been lost by Sigma at this point for it to re-gain traction with the SD1.

Speaking of the Nikon D800, our contributing editor Nick Devlin will be reviewing this camera as soon as a production sample is available, and will also have a preview report here shortly.

The other new camera announced today is the Olympus E-M5, a very appealingly styled and speced new Micro Four Thirds 16MP camera.

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7 February, 2012 - Master Class in San Miguel with Michael Reichmann

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Mon, 6 Feb 2012 17:53:23 EST

As previous announced, Phase One is having a Master Class in San Miguel de Allende in early March. It is being taught by Michael Reichmann and Mark Dubovoy.

There have just been a couple of cancellations and these spots are now open. If you do not own Phase One gear, a loaner system can be made available for use during the workshop.

Find out more right away.

NEW

I normally don't do new product announcements unless they are really significant. There are two though today that will have far reaching implications.

Nikon has announced the 36 Megapixel D800, also available in a version without an AA filter. Be prepared for lots of pixel peeping around the net in the months ahead, comparisons with medium format, and endless mind-numbing discussions about the need for such high resolution and the need for and effects of AA filters.

Timing is perfect for the introduction of the first widely available 35mm camera without an AA filter (Anyone that writes and mentions Sigma will get a booby prize).

The reason the timing is good is because of the availability of Lightroom 4 (beta) which has an excellent anti-moire brush, which makes dealing with occasional moire issues a breeze.

Too bad Nikon uses a proprietary raw format. This means D800E purchasers will have to wait for Adobe to reverse engineer the format and release a support update.

Last November Kodak sold its image sensor business to Platinum Equity. Today, the formation of Truesense Imaging Inc., has been announced. The company remains headquartered in Rochester, NY, where it will manufacture high performance image sensors used in demanding commercial, industrial, and professional imaging applications.

Good news indeed for companies that use Kodak sensors in their products.

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5 February, 2012 - A Photographer's Eulogy for Eastman Kodak

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Sat, 4 Feb 2012 17:25:23 EST

It's the end of an era. The Kodak that we knew and loved (or not) for the past hundred years is no more. Michael Chiusano shares with us today A Photographer's Eulogy for Eastman Kodak.

"I have purchased many of your tutorials in the past and found them very helpful. However, Camera to Print and Screen is truly over the top in usefulness and helpfulness. I have gone back to it several times to get up to speed on a subject, or answer a question about sharpening, printing and/or moving photos to an iPad; it is great, and well worth the cost."

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1 February, 2012 - The Game of Photography - What Are The Rules

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:01:59 EST

Today's new essay is by scientist, photographer and author Harold Merklinger. It is titled The Game of Photography – What Are The Rules?

"You and Jeff did it again! A great series of videos.

I've watched the earlier Camera to Print series as well as the LR 2 & 3 videos and as usual, I learned new technique and ideas even though I've been behind a camera for 45 years.

Additionally, the rapport you two have is most engaging, enjoyable, and totally different than the sterile video tutorials from others (I'm afflicted with being a visual learner).

Again, a great series of videos that have helped me grow once again."

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27 January, 2012 - Learning Video Production The Hard Way

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:33:11 EST

High end video production is now within the reach of any modern DSLR owner. What does it take to achieve something really worthwhile though? Regular contributor Peter Cox shares the trials and tribulations of producing an hour long video tutorial/travelogue in Learning Video Production the Hard Way.

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23 January, 2012 - Everything Matters

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:02:37 EST

In the first of a major two part essay titled Everything Matters, Mark Dubovoy explores the unseen and hyper-realism in photography.

"You and Jeff did it again! A great series of videos.

I've watched the earlier Camera to Print series as well as the LR 2 & 3 videos and as usual, I learned new technique and ideas even though I've been behind a camera for 45 years.

Additionally, the rapport you two have is most engaging, enjoyable, and totally different than the sterile video tutorials from others (I'm afflicted with being a visual learner).

Again, a great series of videos that have helped me grow once again."

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20 January, 2012 - Sony NEX-7 Video Review

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:56:15 EST

I've had more mail over the past few weeks, asking when my NEX-7 video report would be online, than just about any topic in recent months.

Well, the answer is, today. Sony NEX-7 Video is the final installment in my NEX-7 Rolling Review, which was published over the past couple of months.

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18 January, 2012 - Comparing the NEX-7 and A900

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:08:03 EST

Someone had to do it eventually. How does the exciting new 24 Megapixel Sony NEX-7 compare with the now somewhat aged, but still excellent 24 Megapixel full-frame A900?

Contributor Rick Kettelmann has done some considerable work comparing these two cameras in a review entitled Comparing the NEX-7 with the A900.

"You and Jeff did it again! A great series of videos.

I've watched the earlier Camera to Print series as well as the LR 2 & 3 videos and as usual, I learned new technique and ideas even though I've been behind a camera for 45 years.

Additionally, the rapport you two have is most engaging, enjoyable, and totally different than the sterile video tutorials from others (I'm afflicted with being a visual learner).

Again, a great series of videos that have helped me grow once again."

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15 January, 2012 - Do You Have a 4K Future?

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:28:12 EST

Do you have a 4K future? 4K is the next major development in motion picture and TV production (forget 3D), and while the RED Scarlet-X is the current 4K tool of choice for film and TV producers as well as simultaneous stills production, there are some new cameras coming. This includes a 4K prototype from Canon, recently shown.

But JVC has just stolen a big march on the competition with it's just-announced 4K HMQ10 camcorder, priced at under $5,000. My look at the unfolding 4K environment and the new JVC are in a just published essay titled Do You Have a 4K Future?

Pikto's Top Pick contest was very successful, with 280 entries from around the world. They will have an opening to highlight the winning entry on Saturday January 21st 6-10pm at the Pikto Gallery in Toronto. The winning entry by Anastasia Taylor-LInd has just been featured in theNew York Times. Anastasia is flying over fromn the UK for the opening.

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12 January, 2012 - Two New Gura Gear Camera Bags

mreichmann@luminous-landscape.com — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:44:02 EST

Whenever I tease my wife about how many shoes she has, she (quite rightly) zaps me back about my camera bags.

I don't know about you, but I think that one can never have too many bags for ones gear. There are backpacks for hiking, rolling bags for travel, small shoulder bags, large hip bags... well, you get the idea.

Gura Gear makes some of the best and most versatile bags around, and Nick Devlin and I have been using two of their latest offerings for the past several months. Our review of the latest Gura Gear bags is now online.

Adobe Relents

Sometimes vocal consumer ire pays dividends. Adobe pissed off a lot of its loyal customer base last year by announcing that Photoshop users would only be able to upgrade to Photoshop CS6 (when it ships) from the latest earlier version, rather than three versions back as has always been the case.

Adobe has now relented, as described in this article. Well done Adobe.

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