Photography Industry News

High-resolution images coming to Facebook


Facebook has introduced an update to its Photos application, which now allows people to upload and display images in high resolution. The rise of Facebook and its popular Photos application has had, over the past few years, an impact on professional photographers and copyright . Wedding photographers, for example, have been forced to account for the site's popularity as newlyweds share their copyrighted images with their Facebook friends. Similarly, copyrighted material can find its way on the site as the notion of moral rights remains unclear to numerous users.

While the images' low resolution previously prevented most off-line and print usage, the new high resolution offered could change that. In addition, self-service photo printing kiosks now allow users to print any Facebook photo they have access to.

For more information, visit Facebook's blog .

Roundup from Photokina
Photokina, held every two years, is the biggest photographic trade show in the world. The show closed on Sep 26th following its week-long run and resulting in a flood of new-products. Here is a recap of the most pro-relevant arrivals:

• Sigma SD1
  A flagship for Sigma and its Foveon sensor, the SD1 promises to deliver 46 megapixel output in a 1.5x crop sensor that measures 4800 x 3200 with 3 layers. The SD1 is weatherproof, has a magnesium alloy body and a new 11-point twin-cross AF system and is compatible with all Sigma’s own mount lenses. For more information, visit www.sigma-sd.com/SD1.

• Nikon D7000
  £1299 with 18-105mm VR lens
  Nikon’s newest addition is the D7000, a mid-level digital SLR that sits above the D90 and below the D300s in the line-up. The camera’s magnesium alloy body contains a 16.2 megapixels CMOS sensor , an improved Expeed processor, the ability to capture 1080p HD video and Nikon’s newest AF system with 39 points. Before the release, photographer Chase Jarvis were given the opportunity to test drive the camera, see the results here.

• Canon EOS 60D
  £1200 with 18-55mm kit lens
  Replacing the EOS 50 D is the 18megapixels APS-C EOS 60 D, a physically smaller and lighter camera that sits below the EOS 7D in Canon’s line-up. It combines several features seen in the other EOS models – the 3.0 inch LCD found in the EOS 550D, the EOS 7D’s HD video capture and the EOS 50D’s AF technology, but also features an articulated black LCD. The camera’s body is plastic – no longer magnesium alloy – but the impressive function set offered by the 60D suggests that it might make a good lightweight second camera for professionals.

• Pentax 645D
  Although Pentax’s first Medium Format DSLR was announced earlier this year, the company confirmed that the 645D is coming in December 2010 to Europe too, priced £9000 for the body only, or £10,000 with the DFA 55mm 645 SDM lens. In fact, upon release, the 645D is expected to be the cheapest medium-format camera available – similar configurations by Hasselblad, Phase One, Leaf and Mamiya retail above the £10,000 mark. An interesting option for those craving resolution.

• Hasselblad H4D-31
  Aimed squarely at photographers at the upper end of 35mm digital photography who want to progress to Medium format, the new H4D-31 comes in two incarnations : one designed for the high end 35mm users with an 80mm lens, and the second is a digital medium format solution for V-System users which comes with a CF-lens adapter. Both options are priced at 9,995 Euro (+tax).

• Fujifilm Finepix X100
  Early 2011 – price around £1000
  The Fujifilm FinePix X100 features a 12.3 megapixels APS-C sized CMOS sensor, a Fujinon 23mm f/2 fixed focal length lens and the newly-developed Hybrid Viewfinder that is both EVF and traditional. It has been designed "to appeal to the millions of DSLR users who need a slim back-up camera for high quality in-fill shots when the use of a bigger SLR system is either inconvenient or impractical," says Fujifilm.