Multimedia tools are nothing new to Corel, a company now responsible for titles in the Ulead family and Video Studio Pro. But the particular combination of features in Corel Digital Studio 2010 (Windows) is something new. Or rather, a it's a fresh take on Corel's existing technology.
The software suite marries editing and project creation tools for photos and videos, giving the application interfaces a tinted look and rounded corners that share the philosophy of Apple's iPhoto and iMovie. Corel's goal was to provide an entry-level media manipulation package for home users that is also appealing to look at and natural to get around, and the company has largely succeeded.
Corel Digital Studio 2010 is comprised of main four applications: the photo studio, video studio, DVD burning app, and WinDVD, Corel's video player. (There's also a desktop gadget with its shortcut buttons to each of the four programs.) With them you can open media from just about anywhere, edit videos and photos, and fashion a whole lot of fun photo and video projects. The video studio, known formally as Corel VideoStudio 2010, has a built-in movie maker that looks good and is approachable for novices looking to get their feet wet. There are a few templates (but a few more wouldn't hurt), for automatically creating videos out of video clips or photos, or both of them together--you'll have an opportunity to tweak transitions and other details later.
The photo app harbors a creation workshop for collages, cards, calendars, and photo books, all of which you can print from your home computer or order from Corel online, if you'd like to turn your digital media into physical form. As with the movie maker, there are templates for getting started (the same ones, in fact.) The limited templates may get old pretty soon.
The other options for releasing photos and videos from your desktop include burning them to disk (with Corel DVD Factory 2010), e-mailing them, copying them to a number of devices, including the iPhone and Sony PSP, and uploading them automatically to Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube. We had some trouble uploading to Flickr in our initial tests, but according to Corel, the bug we encountered is unusual.
Corel Digital Studio has a few other rough spots. We've mentioned the premade project templates, which could be more numerous. We feel the same way about the number of effects in the photo editor--there are a meager four. The software could run a little faster, and there are a few tweaks we'd make to some of the tools; for instance, if you could adjust aspects like saturation and brightness by typing a value into a blank field in addition to the current method, where you set it with a slider bar.
Each application's tool set in Corel Digital Studio 2010 is much beefier than your basic freeware apps like Google's photo manager, Picasa, and Microsoft's recent Windows Live Movie Maker. Compare the features with other multimedia suites in its price class, and the $99.99 studio falls in the middle. Part of that is intentional. By slimming down the feature offerings, casual consumers won't get lost in a morass of menus. Make the product too simple, though, and nobody will buy it. Corel has struck a fair compromise that will give the company's home user audience plenty to do to, both in terms of editing media and in terms of ultimately sharing that media with others.
(Credit:
Corel)
In the end, Corel's new multimedia studio doesn't introduce any groundbreaking capabilities to the field. Comparable software suites, like Roxio Creator 2010 and Apple's iMovie/iPhoto combo, have the sharing features, automated movie makers, photo book and calendar creators, and then some. Roxio Creator 2010 also has several more audio tools, extra copying options (like to TiVo), and express burning you can jump-start from the desktop or even automatically from the DVD drive. iPhoto and iMovie include sundries such as detecting recurring faces in photos, and more advanced video editing options that take the audio track into account.
At this point, it may seem that we're a lot further away from proclaiming that Corel has largely succeeded in its mission to create a solid, user-friendly multimedia app than we were at the beginning of this review. However, we're still of that original opinion. Those folks seeking more advanced tools, like that separate audio track and finer tuning, should seek a different media suite that's more consciously geared to enthusiasts or professionals. What Corel Digital Studio 2010 offers is a navigable, eye-pleasing design for people who want one place to go that gives them beyond-the-basics tools without opening too many cans of worms. (The package is an especially fair price if you were planning to buy DVD-playing software for your computer anyway--don't forget that it includes WinDVD 2010.)
There's much more to explore in Corel's quadra-app suite, and some system requirements that you should be aware of before you download even the trial. For details, tune into the First Look video above, slide on over to the photo gallery, or read our hands-on review. If you'd like to test it for yourself, Corel Digital Studio 2010 is free-to-try for 30 days.
Half a year after the camera's debut, Canon released promised firmware that updates its vaunted EOS 5D Mark II SLR with the ability to manually control camera settings while shooting video.
The much-desired feature lets users set aperture, ISO sensitivity, and shutter speed manually. It was the first Canon SLR to support video, and the only one so far that can shoot 1080p video at 30 frames per second, but previously it only could shoot video in a fully automatic mode.
The firmware 1.1.0 update is available from Canon's Web site, as are update instructions (PDF).
The omission led to much carping among those who expected more control over their imagery from a 21.1-megapixel SLR that costs $2,700 with no lenses. For example, people couldn't specifically set a wide aperture to attain a shallow depth of field that blurs the background behind the video subject, a cinematographic effect that's hard to attain with standard point-and-shoot video.
The new video mode is activated using the standard controls for setting ISO, aperture, and shutter speed after the camera dial is set to the "M" mode for manual shooting. See the excerpt from the user manual update below for details.
On my camera, the update took about two minutes to install and my testing showed that the feature worked as advertised. The firmware fixes five other glitches, too; the full list is at the bottom of this post.
Update 8:30 a.m. PDT: Contrary what I found earlier, aperture and shutter speed can be changed while you're shooting. Of course doing so shakes the camera and adds audible noise if you're using the built-in microphone, and exposure changes in fixed steps, not smooth transitions, that are pretty glaring in the video.
You also can set ISO to "auto," in which case the camera makes its best guess about exposure while leaving shutter speed and aperture alone.
(Credit:
Canon)
Aside from the video feature, here's what Canon says firmware 1.1.0 fixes:
• Disables the function of the depth-of-field preview button when images are played back or when the menu screen is displayed on the LCD panel.
• Fixes a phenomenon where the peripheral illumination of images cannot be properly corrected, even if the images were captured with the lens peripheral illumination correction function set to Enable. Digital Photo Professional software version 3.6.1 or later (for Windows and Macintosh) can be used to automatically correct the peripheral illumination of raw and JPEG images that were captured in the Peripheral Illumination Correction setting with cameras that have Firmware Version 1.0.7 or earlier.
• Fixes the algorithms of the Auto Lighting Optimizer function when Custom Function C.Fn II-3 Highlight tone priority is enabled.
• Fixes incorrect indications on the Arabic, Romanian, Spanish, and Ukrainian menu screens.
• Changes the battery information displayed on the camera when using the optional Battery Grip BG-E6.
Updated 7:16 a.m. PDT with further details from Canon in Europe, and 9:20 a.m. with further details from Canon USA.
Canon plans to release firmware June 2 to address a common complaint about its EOS 5D Mark II, a $2,700 digital SLR that's generally been lauded for its image quality but criticized for its lack of manual controls when shooting video, the company said.
SLR cameras give photographers close control over settings including shutter speed, aperture, and ISO sensitivity, and the enthusiasts and professionals who buy high-end cameras often understand and use those options. Since the 21-megapixel 5D Mark II was introduced a half year ago as Canon's first SLR to feature video abilities, the video operated in a fully automatic mode in which the camera selected those settings.
Manual control over video will arrive with Canon's 5D Mark II through a June firmware update.
(Credit: Canon)That became a common cause for complaint. For example, people couldn't select a wide aperture, or F-stop, to ensure a shallow depth of field that would direct attention to a video's subject while making the background an undistracting blur. The lack of manual controls contrasted with two big video advantages of the 5D Mark II, the ability to shoot 1080p video at 30 frames per second, and a large, full-frame sensor that's particularly good at dealing with difficult low-light conditions.
"This new firmware will accommodate a great number of user requests for manual exposure control in the EOS 5D Mark II video mode. Manual exposure control while shooting video on the EOS 5D Mark II is expected to make a big impact with cinematographers and videographers using the 5D Mark II for high-end HD video production," Canon said.
A customer newsletter said the feature will permit control over ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Canon's European press release was more forthcoming, saying that shutter speed would range from 1/30th of a second to 1/4000th and that ISO would include the camera's regular span of 100 to 6400 and also the extended H1 setting of 12,800.
... Read moreThe camera industry and photographers, having just gotten accustomed to the arrival of video in point-and-shoot cameras, just now are beginning to grapple with its arrival in the more serious SLR realm.
Chuck Westfall, technical adviser for Canon's professional products marketing division and a 26-year veteran at the Japanese company, is in the thick of it. Nikon was the first to market with a single-lens reflex camera equipped with video, the D90, but Canon offers video in two SLRs: the high-end EOS 5D Mark II, with a large sensor the size of a full frame of 35mm film, and the Rebel T1i, a more affordable, mainstream model.
Chuck Westfall
(Credit: Canon USA)These cameras combine high-definition video--1900x1080 pixels at 30 frames per second in the case of the 5D Mark II--with SLRs' advantages when shooting in dim conditions and with a broad variety of lenses. But even though today's video SLR features offers hold some appeal to enthusiasts and professionals, they're something of an awkward afterthought. SLRs and those who use them that haven't yet had much time to adapt.
Welcome to the world of digital photography, where change is incessant. In an interview with CNET News, Westfall talked about not just video, but also OLED displays, the arrival of rival full-frame SLRs from Sony and Nikon, changing flash card and file format standards, wireless networking, and more.
Question: The age of the video SLR has begun. A lot of people in the high-end camera market are set in their ways, and video is a radical difference for a lot of them. How does that change the camera design, the marketing, and everything you have to do to sell a camera? ... Read more
Nikon's lower-end SLR line is due for a revamp, and there are some signs that it could come soon in the form of a model featuring an articulated screen.
Photos of an SLR with a screen that pivots out and twists surfaced Sunday at the Something Awful forum and Monday at Engadget; the photos depict the production of a Nikon commercial in Eastern Europe, according to the forum posting from "indyjb" and Engadget.
Articulating screens are nothing new; some Olympus and Panasonic SLRs feature them, while some Sony models have a pivoting LCD that can be useful. But newer technology developments in the market make them more useful.
First, pivoting screens are helpful with live view, which lets people compose photos using the LCD rather than the viewfinder; live view makes it easier to take shots with the camera held high overhead or down near the ground, for example, where peering through the viewfinder is tough. More significantly, pivoting LCDs make video easier on SLRs. So far video is available only on two SLRs from Canon and on Nikon's mid-range D90.
The shots show what appears to be a lower-end SLR featuring Nikon's 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 VR kit lens.
When might this new product arrive? Perhaps at an April 14 Nikon press conference in Austria whose invitation Nikon Rumors published.
Update 11:52 a.m. PDT: First, Nikon declined to comment. Second, there's a possibility that Nikon's also relatively elderly D300 will be supplanted by the D400, Photography Bay points out.
(Via Cameratown.)
MotionDSP, the company that offered a novel approach to improving photos and video through its now-discontinued FixMyMovie Web site, plans to release a promised version of its software for personal computers.
MotionDSP's vReveal software can extract higher quality from videos by drawing on the data in multiple frames showing the same scene.
(Credit: MotionDSP)The $49.99 software program, called vReveal, analyzes a video's adjacent frames and combines the data to create a higher-quality version. This can bring out details in dim areas, correct camera shake, and remove noise and blocky compression artifacts, the company said. The software also can rotate videos, increase video resolution, and extract still images.
In addition, the company said the software can employ the CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) technology from graphics chipmaker Nvidia, enabling PCs with appropriate video cards to accelerate the processing-intensive task. The technology doesn't work with all Nvidia graphics processing units, but it works on systems without a compatible video card, the company said.
"It can run up to five times faster when you have a CUDA-enabled Nvidia GPU in your system," said vReveal product manager Mike Sonders. "This multiframe analysis is incredibly hardware intensive."
CUDA offloads some processing to an Nvidia graphics chip, but software must be specially adapted to take advantage of the extra horsepower.
This frame of a woman toasting shows how video from newer digital SLRs lets people blur backgrounds to emphasize a particular subject, something that's harder with conventional video cameras.
(Credit: CC Joi Ito)The photography world is beginning to adapt to a new phase in the marriage of cameras and computing technology: the arrival of SLRs that can shoot not just still images, but video too.
The change began with the arrival of image sensors, the light-sensitive microchips that replaced film. Now, two new SLRs--Nikon's D90 and Canon's EOS 5D Mark II--are taking another step away from the film paradigm, following in the footsteps of point-and-shoot cameras by recording continuous video and not just still images. Doubtless video will gradually spread to other SLR models and makers.
"This camera is the ultimate 'equalizer'--you no longer need half-million dollars' worth of high-definition video cameras and lenses delivered by a truck with its own driver to shoot a high-definition film in low light--you just need a $2,700 camera and a few lenses," gushed professional photographer and Canon adviser Vincent Laforet in a blog post about a 5D Mark II prototype.
But not everything will be simple for Laforet wannabes excited by the new possibilities. Hardware, software, Web sites, and perhaps most of all, technique all must catch up to the new technology.
Though how-to book authors have yet to weigh in, there are signs the adaptation has begun. Take the case of video hosting.
... Read more
The Red cameras come with a lot of not-so-cheap accessories.
(Credit: Red Digital Cinema Camera)Red Digital Cinema Camera, a new maker of high-end digital movie cameras, is expanding its turf closer to traditional camera makers such as Canon and Hasselblad.
On Thursday, Red announced a new range of modular camera designs that it plans to deliver mostly over the coming year and a half that can take not just high-resolution video but also still images. The move comes just as Canon and Nikon have begun adding video support to their SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras.
Red hopes to ship a large-format camera sensor in 2010.
(Credit: Red Digital Cinema Camera)Various new models from Red will be able to accept lenses from Canon, Nikon, and Mamiya, a move that could make them a more serious possibility for professional photographers, but the prices--thousands of dollars to tens of thousands--restrict this equipment to a very small market.
Certainly Red's new cameras will never be as widely used as video-enabled SLRs costing less than $3,000. But Red, if it can deliver on its promised road map, holds the potential now of shaking up professional markets. Its original Red One video camera did, winning high-profile accolades from Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson among others for its ability to outdo film.
What's unclear is how well cinematographers used to video will take to still imagery and photographers will take to video, but the two realms are certainly growing ever closer in the consumer market.
High-end sensors
The models come with a variety of high-end sensors: a 24-megapixel chip the size of the 36x24mm full-frame sensors in the top-end cameras from Nikon and Canon; a 65-megapixel 56x42mm sensor competitive with those in medium-format digital cameras; and one large "617" format sensor that measures a whopping 186x56mm and whose 28,000x9,334 pixel resolution comes to 261 megapixels.
Red divides these new camera models into two lines, the more compact Scarlet models and the more powerful Epic models that can reach higher frame rates with high-resolution sensors. Also accompanying are a wide range of cinematography accessories such as a 1,080p LCD video monitor, an input-output module, lens mounts, battery packs, and wireless controllers. One fascinating combination: a harness that sports a pair of cameras for shooting 3D movies.
Red has a line of lenses for its cameras.
(Credit: Red Digital Cinema Camera)With the models, Red is trying to establish a new category called "digital still and motion cameras" (DSMC). Whether it will succeed with the jargon is anyone's guess, but the technology certainly is coming: Nikon's new midrange D90 became the first SLR camera that can shoot video, too, and Canon's higher-end full-frame EOS 5D Mark II is about to ship.
The 5D Mark II can shoot 1080p video, but Red's cameras record at higher resolutions geared for digital movie projection systems.
One area where digital photography has wrestled with film is in dynamic range--the difference between light and dark areas. With poor dynamic range, dark areas disappear into black murk and bright areas wash out. Red boasts of a wide range, though, with its full-frame, medium-format, and large-format Monstro-brand sensors all producing 16-bit data spanning more than 13 stops of dynamic range. The cameras shoot video or still images using a raw image format that accommodates the data.
... Read moreIn response to a copyright complaint, Google has taken down an open-source project called CoreAVC-for-Linux it had hosted on its Web site.
Google didn't share details, but said on the project site that it removed CoreAVC-for-Linux from its Google Code site after receiving a complaint under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
CoreAVC itself is proprietary software for Windows supplied by a company called CoreCodec. The software can play video encoded with the H.264 standard.
According to a cached version of the Google Code page, CoreAVC-for-Linux provides patches to open-source media player software such as MPlayer or MythTV that enable them to use the CoreAVC software on Linux. In other words, it's for programs that connect to the CoreAVC software but doesn't actually include CoreAVC itself.
It's not yet clear who filed the DMCA complaint.
The DMCA's Safe Harbor provision protects a Web site from liability for users' actions as long as the site's operator--in this case Google--fulfills requirements such as removing infringing material once notified by rights holders.
CoreCodec appears to be a company that's got some involvement with the opens-source programming philosophy. According to the CoreCodec Web site, "Our philosophy is to (use) open source when appropriate, and when we do choose to close source a product, we strive to open as much of it as possible for third-party access."
(Via Slashdot.)
The We Demand Donuts group takes a jab at those who objected to Flickr's new video service.
(Credit: Flickr)First came Flickr video on Tuesday. Then came the anti-Flickr-video outcry on Wednesday. Now there's the anti-anti-Flickr-video outcry.
This last movement takes the highly facetious form of Flickr's new We Demand Donuts group. "If we get 20,000 people to join the group Flickr will be forced to give us free donuts!" the group's manifesto states. "Join the group and invite all your contacts. We will make this the biggest protest group on Flickr and force them to give us free donuts!"
There are some subtleties here, but given the timing, it's pretty clear that this group's raison d'etre can be translated as, "Give us a break, Flickr members who are signing petitions demanding that Flickr scrap its new video service."
More than 550 have joined so far. The No Video on Flickr group has more than 9,700.
Update 8:08 a.m. April 11: Flickr capitulated, at least on a geographically limited basis. "We at FlickrHQ have heard of your noble efforts and seek to answer your cries for justice," said Matthew Rothenberg, a Flickr employee, in the group's discussion board. He promised to buy doughnuts for Flickr members who meet up at a yet-to-be-determined San Francisco shop April 16.
