Underexposed

Sony showed concept models of six new SLR lenses at the PMA show.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News)

LAS VEGAS--Sony showed off models of a forthcoming supertelephoto and five other lenses Monday at the Photo Marketing Association trade show, a new sign the electronics giant is holding tight to its ambition to be a major player in the digital SLR market

"Sony is passionate in proving better lens development," said Shigeki Ishizuka, president of Sony's digital imaging business group, at a news conference held here in conjunction with PMA. He said Sony now ranks third in the SLR market.

There's something of a cottage industry on the Internet of making parodies through artful subtitles of Der Untergang, a movie about the last throes of the Third Reich. And now there's one that takes on Nikon's D3X, the company's new $8,000, 24.5-megapixel SLR.

The subtitles depict Adolf Hitler coming to terms with the arrival of Sony's Alpha A900. One amusing moment comes when a minion listening to Hitler's rant comforts a weeping colleague, "There, there, I hear he shoots only JPEG." (In case the humor is lost on you, that's a jab at pixel-peeping camera snobs such as myself who prefer to shoot raw images.)

According to The Online Photographer, where I spotted the video Tuesday, the parody is by Nikon D3 photographer Samuel Vert.

A new update expands the range of cameras supported by a program that can ease the pains photography buffs often have when viewing images stored in hard-to-decode raw image formats.

Michael Tapes released Instant JPEG from Raw 1.1 on Wednesday, a month after the IJFR debut. The software extends file-browser software to show thumbnail views of raw images, doing so by extracting the JPEG that's typically stored within the raw image.

Photo enthusiasts and pros like raw files for their flexibility, but because each camera has its own format, handling them can be a pain. IJFR extends Mac OS X and Windows file browsers so it can show a rough-and-ready JPEG preview version of a raw file, which often is enough to sort or identify images.

The new version supports Sony raw files and a number of new cameras, Tapes said: Canon's 50D, the Panasonic LX3, the Sigma DP-1, and Leica's M8.

Now supported by Adobe: Sony's new top-end Alpha A900 SLR.

(Credit: Sony)

Adobe Systems has updated Photoshop's ability to deal with raw-format images from several of the latest SLR cameras with its new version 4.6 of the Camera Raw plug-in. Adobe's John Nack has the download links.

Less than a month after beginning beta testing, the final version is out with support for Canon's newer entry-level EOS Rebel XS, its brand-new midrange EOS 50D, Nikon's freshly released midrange D90 and full-frame D700, Pentax's newest entry-level model, the K2000, and Sony's ambitious 24-megapixel full-frame Alpha A900.

Also released is a new version of the DNG Converter software, which can help out people with older, more limited, or slower-moving software handle the newer file formats by converting them into Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) format. Raw files, which are taken directly from camera image sensors with no in-camera processing such as sharpening or color balance, preserve more detail than JPEG but require manual processing. And keeping up with the numerous proprietary raw formats is a lot of work for software companies.

In more rarefied realms, the new software supports several medium-format products from Leaf, the Aptus II 6 and 7 digital backs and AFi II 6 and 7 camera bodies. Also on the list is the more unusual Fujifilm FinePix IS Pro, an SLR that can be used to take infrared and ultraviolet light photos.

The software also supports some higher-end compact cameras that can produce raw images, including the Sigma DP1, the Olympus SP-565 UZ, and the Nikon Coolpix P6000.

The new cameras are also supported in Lightroom 2.1, currently in beta. And if the fleeting lag between the Camera Raw plug-in beta and the Lightroom 2.1 beta is anything to judge by, the final version of Lightroom 2.1 should arrive soon.

(Credit: Nikon USA)

New beta software for Adobe Systems' Photoshop means those with Nikon's latest SLRs, the mid-range D90 and higher-end, full-frame D700, now can handle those cameras' raw files with the company's widely used image-editing software.

In addition, the software supports Nikon's Coolpix P6000, a high-end compact camera, and the Fuji Finepix IS Pro, said Adobe's Tom Hogarty in a blog post Wednesday.

The update includes unofficial, preliminary support for Canon's 50D, a mid-range SLR due to ship in October, Canon's new low-end Rebel XS, Sony's ambitious full-frame Alpha A900 SLR due in November, the Olympus SP-565 UZ ultrazoom compact, and Sigma's large-sensor DP1 compact, Hogarty said.

In addition, Adobe released an accompanying version of its DNG Converter software, which changes the proprietary raw file formats from higher-end cameras into Adobe's relatively open Digital Negative (DNG) format. That means people have a bridge to get the new cameras' raw files into Lightroom, which doesn't yet support the new cameras.

No word yet on other higher-end cameras such as Canon's G10 or EOS 5D Mark II.

The Camera Raw 4.6 update and DNG Converter is available from Adobe Labs' site.

(Via Lightroom-News.com)

With a Thursday announcement about a flagship SLR due later this year, Sony has become the third manufacturer to bet on the full-frame camera market.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET Networks)

LAS VEGAS--The heyday of 35mm film SLR cameras is long past, but one foundation of the technology is staging something of a comeback with new help from Sony.

The vast majority of digital single-lens reflex cameras today use an image sensor that's smaller than a full frame of 35mm film, which means lenses behave somewhat differently than on a film camera. For years, only Canon sold SLRs with a full-frame sensor, but Nikon entered the market with its top-end D3 late in 2007. At the Photo Marketing Association trade show Thursday, Sony announced its forthcoming "flagship" Alpha-branded SLR will follow suit.

"We will commercialize this model by the end of this year," said Toru Katsumoto, senior general manager of Sony's digital imaging business group. "This model uses a full-frame size, 24.6 megapixel, CMOS censor with Exmor technology"--specifically, Sony's full-frame sensor, he said.

Sony hopes the company's flagship SLR will appeal to professional photographers, but Katsumoto said in an interview that's not the main thrust for the camera.

"It's not for the real professional," Katsumoto said of the flagship model. "We'd like to make this camera of course for professionals, but also for enthusiasts and high-end amateurs."

Sony's move helps the full-frame remain relevant and perhaps spread it a bit more widely. But don't expect the full-frame format to dominate the way it did in the 35mm film era.

Full-frame economics
It's much more expensive to manufacture larger image sensors. Other SLR makers--Olympus, Pentax, Panasonic, Leica, and Samsung--use smaller sensors only, and Nikon and Canon say their small-sensor camera lines are here to stay. Camera makers also have been selling lenses that are geared specifically for small sensors and that sometimes don't work on full-frame models.

Smaller-sensor SLRs are a much larger market. Of the 2007 SLR market, fully 23 percent cost $600 or less, according to data released Thursday by NPD Group. For comparison, the cheapest full-frame model today, Canon's 5D, costs about $2,100 with no lens.

And chip-manufacturing improvements that could lower the cost of full-frame sensors help with smaller sensors.

"Any advance...would apply to both large- and small-format sensors. If CMOS suddenly got less expensive, then small-format would have an even smaller cost per sensor," said Mike DeLuca, a market segment manager for Eastman Kodak's professional and applied imaging group, which designs both small and very large image sensors.

From entry-level to flagship
That Sony is willing to tackle the difficult economics of the full-frame SLR market with its new Alpha provides further evidence that Sony is serious with its SLR push.

"This year, Alpha will proceed to its main stage," Katsumoto said. "We will address the whole spectrum of digital SLR segments this year ranging from entry-level to flagship."

Full-frame cameras can offer greater sensitivity for a given megapixel count because individual pixels are larger and gather more light. Sony's flagship Alpha, just shy of 25 megapixels, puts pixel count in the driver's seat. In contrast, Nikon's 12-megapixel D3 emphasizes bigger pixels with good low-light performance.

Another advantage of full-frame cameras is that lenses owned by 35mm film buffs work the way they were designed to. Small-frame cameras crop out the outer portions of the frame, making it harder to achieve wide-angle views. That could be relevant for customers who own lenses from Konica Minolta, whose camera assets Sony purchased to jump-start its SLR push.

"Full-frame still has advantages," said InfoTrends analyst Ed Lee. "It'll get you back all the wide-angle viewing."

• Helicon Focus software -- Combines multiple photos at different focus points into a single image with everything in focus. Somehow. More computational photography.
• A detailed review of Nikon D3 -- Very long review of the Nikon D3, favorable overall. Details include praise for GPS compatibility (UTC timestamps!), demerits for live view during macro shooting, and grumblings about long night exposures and weak infrared and ultraviolet performance.
• Creativepro.com -- Review: Canon PowerShot G9 -- A favorable review, but it says: "What I find frustrating is that there could be a G9-like camera with lower noise, if it didn't include such a high pixel count." Camera makers, are you listening? Last year, we wanted raw; now we want better high-ISO performance.
• Rumor: Nikon D60 to Replace D40x | Photography Bay -- Certainly the D40 and D40x are due for a replacement. (An earlier Canon digital SLR also was called the D60.)
• Thomas Hawk: Photophlow Rocks -- Some kind of communal photo search and discussion site to give a group interaction to Flickr. Intriguing.
• Zooomr moving to Japan, mobile version in the works -- Zooomr is trying to differentiate from Flickr, but Zipline wasn't enough, so a mobile version is under way so the company can get funding from Japanese investors; Zoho won't house the servers in 2008. Hard times for a photo-sharing start-up.
• Mozilla Labs: Weave project for sharing browser settings -- This looks potentially useful as an alternative to Firefox. Some folks have privacy concerns, but I don't think I'd put any passwords up there--just bookmarks and maybe browsing history.
• Inkscape's first two weeks with Launchpad | Infinite Knots -- Bug-hunting is easier now than at Sourceforge. "The change would have been easier if Launchpad was open source, but I feel confident that Canonical's commitment to opening it is genuine," according to Infinite Knots.
• Some open-source hardware, the Neuros OSD -- The New York Times -- A video recorder/translator designed to be extended. Maybe appealing to the serious hardware hackers, but you can't cut and paste with a soldering iron.
• Intel vs. OLPC blow-by-blow -- The New York Times -- Some juicy particulars of how Intel's alliance with One Laptop Per Child--never genial to begin with--fell apart.
• Intel PDF on SSE4 instruction set -- Some detail on what the SSE4 instructions do. SSE4 starts showing up in Penryn processors.
• Bad Astronomy blog -- My New Year's Resolution -- OK, I laughed. Nerd humor.
• What's In and Out for 2008 -- Washingtonpost.com -- I'm mostly out of the loop, but I was ahead of the times with Pastafarianism. I vote for Kakuro over Scrabulous, though, as a Sudoku successor.
• Lightroom color management PDF -- Some detailed articles on color management for Lightroom and Photoshop.
• D-SLR Systems catalog | PCPhoto magazine -- A snapshot of the camera and lens line-ups from all the SLR companies.
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips -- Another Before/After Shortcut -- I didn't know about the backslash key shortcut. Sounds pretty useful.
• People paparazzi -- Guardian Unlimited -- A look at the paparazzi business. Fixation on celebrities is so depressing.

• BBC NEWS | Egypt 'to copyright antiquities' including pyramids - Looks like people trying to sell pictures of the pyramids or sphinx will have to reckon with the Egyptian government.
• The Generational divide in copyright morality - The New York Times - David Pogue on the latest generation's opinion about copyright.
• Technology in 2008 | The Economist predicts 3 big trends for 2008 - I'm skeptical Linux on the desktop will catch on too much, and Linux already won long before the SCO Group's legal attack fell apart, and Ubuntu doesn't deserve quite that much credit. Otherwise interesting reading.
• Mark Radcliffe: 2007 top ten free and open source legal issues - A good recap of the intersection of open-source issues and the legal realm by a respected attorney in the area.
• Adobe's Outlook: A pretty picture - Barron's Online - Barron's stands by its bullish assessment of Adobe stock.
• HP: Snapfish cuts 4x6 print prices to 9 cents - I've been impressed how much prices have dropped in this industry. It's not over yet.
• Sony releases firmware version 3 for the A700 digital SLR - A couple bug fixes, one with a situation that could cause the camera to lock up and one with camera settings staying put when they shouldn't.
• ActivePerl 5.10 - Online Docs : ActivePerl 5.10 change log - New features in ActiveState's version of Perl 5.10
• Nikon videos for Coolpix S51, S51c - I like the idea of instructional videos from camera makers. Better have broadband, though: 250MB for the high-res version.
• The Online Photographer: Fujifilm Digicam appreciation - Apparently the now-discontinued Fujifilm F30 and F31 compact cameras are selling for well over their price at introduction and over price of the company's replacement. Why? Some people realize lower noise is better than gratuitous megapixels.
• Olympus SP-560UZ Review: Digital photography review - So-so. "You could use this camera for years without ever finding all the (often fairly pointless) things it can do, so numerous and deeply buried in menus are they." Slow raw, but better than nothing. I wasn't wowed by the SP-550UZ before it.
• Ricoh GR Digital II firmware v1.12: Digital photography review - Some bug fixes and tweaks.

• Breakthrough of the Year 2007: Science magazine. Winner: human genetic variation. "Equipped with faster, cheaper technologies for sequencing DNA and assessing variation in genomes on scales ranging from one to millions of bases, researchers are finding out how truly different we are from one another."
• Vaporware 2007: Long Live the King. Wired's annual vaporware awards.
• Top 2007 tech flops--Fortune. I have a finite appetite for year-end lists, but schadenfreude never gets old.
• Fotolia announces "The Infinite Collection." Fotolia, a microstock, is getting a little macrostocky. Partnership with higher-end agencies; premium pricing for Fotolia but cheaper than the agency.
• Matthew Szulik's parting words as CEO. He doesn't give details on the personal reasons for his stepping down, but I love how he (mostly accurately) says Red Hat is different from the "cylons who have come to dominate the industry of technology."
• TED: Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law (video). Larry Lessig's copyright stump speech, in case you haven't seen it several times like I have. Worth watching in any event.
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom--Who Needs It?--A Photographer's Perspective--Mark Galen. He argues "many among the photographic community have not been able to identify its primary task" and that it's basically a database. I think he undersells the fact that you can edit large groups of raw images, which is a tough photographic challenge.
• Copyright Basics. A copyright FAQ from the U.S. government.
• U.S. Copyright Office--Copyright Law. The horse's mouth when it comes to United States copyright law.
• Sony Alpha DSLR-A700 Review: Digital Photography Review. "Highly recommended," but states as a primary gripe the in-sensor noise reduction enabled by CMOS processors. "...RAW files already have noise reduction applied to them, this in effect means that the photographer can't treat RAW as the 'digital negative.'"
• Canon EOS 40D digital SLR: First impressions: Consumer Reports Electronics Blog. Consumer Reports looks at a high-end SLR. No sweeping conclusions, but a nice illustration of the field-of-view differences at the end of the piece. (No subscription required for this blog post.)
• Toshiba Joins IBM for 32nm chips--Dave Manners. Toshiba extends its research agreement with IBM et al. to production, too. "If 450mm wafers ever get to be used, the total number of advanced CMOS fabs in the world (will shrink) into single figures."