Hi,
Welcome to the September 2010 issue
of
DPTips Central newsletter!
This month’s issue is packed with lots of interesting stories, industry news and tips that caught our attention in the past two months. So let’s get started…
New Travel Photography Competition
Now that the summer holidays are over, you are in with a chance of getting your travel snaps noticed as well as win some great prizes. The British Airways High Life magazine has launch a fantastic new travel photography competition.
It is a year-long competition which culminates in a prize that money just can’t buy — two winners going on assignment with a leading travel photographer. Not only that, but every three months there will also be two Nikon D3000 digital SLR cameras and 18-55VR lenses to be won — one for the photograph which gets the highest number of points, and another for the entrant whose photograph is judged the best during each three month period by a panel of judges including High Life art director Jamie McPherson and leading travel photographer Jonathan Gregson.
So if you’ve got what it takes — or you’d like to vote — go straight to the http://www.piced.net . Good luck!
Photography
Industry News
Adobe Releases Lightroom 3.2 and Camera Raw 6.2
Beginning of September marked the Adobe release of Lightroom 3.2 and Camera Raw 6.2 updates. Lightroom is the essential digital photography workflow solution, helping serious amateur and professional photographers to quickly import, manage, enhance and showcase all their images from one application. While the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in provides fast and easy access within Photoshop to the raw image formats produced by many leading digital cameras.
The latest updates extend raw file support to 16 new popular camera models including the Canon EOS 60D and Sony Alpha NEX-5, and improve on several of the lens correction profiles provided in the Lightroom 3.0 release.
In fact, there are over 120 new lens profiles added to help photographers automatically correct for undesirable distortion and aberration effects. You can find a full list of the newly added raw camera support and the new and improved lens profiles on the Lightroom Journal: http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal .
The Lightroom 3.2 update allows photographers to publish their photos directly to Facebook and the online photo sharing service SmugMug from directly within the application.
Pricing and Availability
The Lightroom 3.2 update is available as a free download for Lightroom 3 customers, and the Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 Photoshop plug-in is available as a free download for Photoshop CS5 customers, Photoshop Elements 8 (Win/Mac) and Premiere Elements 8 customers. For more information and to download the updates visit http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/.
Nikon ViewNX2 – Free Software Download
Nikon has released an updated version ViewNX2 of its bundled image software ViewNX. The redesigned program not only offers a simplified importing and browsing, but offers the chance to process Raw images and perform various imaging adjustments such as crop, straightening and brightness control.
The updated ViewNX2 also includes several editing options from D-movie files so if you’ve been experimenting with video capture the software enables you to trim, merge clips, apply transition effects and more.
And what is even better, the software is free to download but will also come bundled with all D-series DSLRs purchased from now on. For further details visit :
For further details, visit http://nikonimglib.com/nvnx
Do not miss your chance to sign up for Self Publish, Be Happy workshop at London's Photofusion
If you are interested in making and self-publishing your own photography book , then you have until Sep 25th to sign up for the inaugural Self Publish, Be Happy workshop at London's Photofusion.
Ten selected photographers will be guided through the book-making process by SP, BH founder Bruno Ceschel, book designer Glenn Howard, writer and photobooks collector David Campany and Photofusion's digital expert Richard Wills. They will help each participant to fine-tune the book concept, edit and sequence the images, design the layout and print a copy of the book via new London-based high-qualiity on-demand printer ubyu. Each photographer will receive a book proof for free and 50% discount on their first order.
The workshop lasts for 16 hours and costs £375, and dates are available during October and November. For further details and how to submit your work, visit http://selfpublishbehappy.com.
PhotoShelter enters into partnership with UK-based pro lab
The website and online tools provider for photographers PhotoShelter has entered into a partnership with a UK-based pro lab Spectrum Photographic to offer, for the first time, a print service outside of the US . The new alliance will now offer “greater flexibility in print fulfillment, allowing them to automatically fulfill print orders from more clients with speed and ease with built in standardized shipping rates to eliminate hidden fees,” claims PhotoShelter.
Spectrum Photographic is a pro lab based in Hove, England. The deal will allow photographers to benefit from Spectrum’s expertise. “Each order is handled personally by a trained technician in their lab outside of London, giving every print a custom touch,” the firm claims.
For further details, visit www.spectrumphoto.co.uk and www.photoshelter.com
Nikon releases two new prime lenses aimed at professional photographers - the 35mm f/1.4 and 200mm f/2
Nikon has been quite busy lately, unveiling their third f/1.4 prime lens is just six months – the new AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G lens. The new lens has been designed for reportage and news photographers , as "it combines amazing contrast and resolution with brilliant low-light performance," says Zurab Kiknadze, a product manager at Nikon Europe.
The new lens weighs 600g, has a minimum focussing distance of 30cm and can be used with all DX and FX format DSLRs. It will be available from 19 November, retailing at £1700 (€2013/$2650).
But, professional photographers looking for a new prime lens won't have to wait until November to get their hands on the new telephoto lens AF-S NIKKOR 200mm f/2G ED VR II. Available from 01 October, the new lens replaces the AF-S VR NIKKOR 200mm f/2G IF-ED.
The new model not only keeps the optical construction of its predecessor, but it now features a new Nano Crystal Coat, as well as the latest generation of Vibration Reduction technology and a new A/M focus mode. The lens will retail at £5300 (€6277/$8270).
For further details, visit www.nikon.co.uk .
Nikon also reveales its latest camera D7000 designed for high-end enthusiasts
Nikon has also revealed its second camera in less than a month with the new D7000 model aimed at high-end enthusiasts. The new camera will be on the market from October 29th and has been created for "DSLR owners who want to further indulge their passion for photography with a camera that boasts more advanced features," according to Jordi Brinkman, product manager for Nikon Europe.
One of the biggest features in the new D7000 is its DX-format CMOS sensor , which packs 16.2 effective megapixels - a first for a non-professional high-end Nikon DSLR. The camera also includes Nikon's new image-processing engine Expeed 2.
The camera's sensitivity ranges from ISO 100 to ISO 6400, with the possibility to extend it further to ISO 25,600. Among it other features, the D7000 offers a newly developed autofocus system with 39 focus points, including 9 cross-type sensors in the centre, a 2,016 pixel RGB metering sensor to enhance the effectiveness of the Scene Recognition System, says Nikon, and a burst rate of 6fps.
The D7000 camera is also video-enabled and features a full-HD movie mode offering 1080p resolution at 24fps or 30fps in 720p resolution. But what makes the D7000 more attractive to budding filmmakers is Nikon's choice to use MPEG4 AVC/H.264 compression to record videos, as the standard has been widely adopted in the community.
The D7000 also offers continuous focus during movie recording, a stereo microphone jack, and a built-in movie editing suite to let filmmakers choose "the start and end points of their footage," says Nikon.
The camera also features a twin SD memory card slots for extra storage and a Glass Pentaprism Viewfinder; which offers 100% frame coverage.
The D7000 will retail from £1100 ($1700) body only, or at £1300 ($2000) with a 18-105mm VR lens. For further details, visit www.nikon.co.uk .
Photography Competitions and Exhibitions
HSBC Photo Prize returns with €5000 cash reward
From 04 October photographers will be able to enter the 16th edition of the Prix HSBC pour la Photographie, a prestigious award that has, in the past, largely been dominated by French photographers despite being open to all photographers, no matter their nationality, age or style of photography.
Each year, two winners are selected from among a shortlist of photographers selected by a curator. This year's Agnes Sire, director of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation and former executive at Magnum Photos, will be curating the prize, selection 10 candidates from the entries received before 30 November.
A committee will then select two winners, who will see their work published by Actes Sud, and will be featured in four exhibitions slated for 2011. HSBC will also complement its art collection with the purchase of up to six of the winning photographs.
You will be able to download an entry form from 04 October. However, photographers will be able to send their entries only from 02 November until 30 November. The winners will be announced in January 2011.
For more details on how to enter, visit www.hsbc.fr/prix-photographie
TIPA Award Winners 2010 revealed
This year’s winners of the TIPA (Technical Image Press Association) awards have been annouced where Canon picked up gongs for the EOS 550D and 7D in the Best Advanced DSLR and Best Expert DSLR categories. Nikon’s D3s won the Best Professional DSLR award and Pentax were awared the Best Entry-Level DSLR prize for the K-x. Sony won Best Expert Lens for its 28-75mm f/2.8 SAM model and Epson were given top honours for their Stylus Pro 3880 in the Best Expert Photo Printer category.
Olympus, LG, Fujifilm, Samsung, HP, Hasselblad and Adobe all picked up awards too. For a complete list of the winners, visit www.tipa.com
Photography
Suppliers - Latest News
If you are looking into buying some new equipment, check out Jessops online shop :
If
you know of someone who would
be interested in receiving our Photo Tips and News
Ezine , please forward this email onto them,
and ask them to click here
to subscribe, or send them this link:
https://www.dptips-central.com/photo-tips-and-news-ezine.html
Thanks
for your support and it just remains for us to wish you the happiest of Christmases and a prosperous New Year!
Irina
&
Gianfranco
-- DPTips-Central.com
|
