professionals

Sony finally adds interchangeable lens model to pro-HDV lineup

Though information (and under-glass photos) emerged from Europe in mid-September, it's now official: in February of 2008 we'll finally see interchangeable lens-supporting pro camcorders from Sony. The company today announced a couple of additions to its HDV lineup, the handheld HVR-Z7U and shoulder-mountable HVR-S270U.

Sony has let the Canon XL H1, distinguished by its interchangeable-lens capability, go for quite a while without a direct challenger: the popular HVR-Z1U incorporates a fixed lens. But the 2-year wait confers several potential advantages on the Z7U. Both camcorders use a trio of 1/3-inch, 3-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensors, a higher resolution … Read more

Pro photographers' loss, but amateurs' gain

In a Guardian column earlier this year, Andrew Brown lamented the hard times that have befallen professional photographers. What caused the "death of an honorable profession," he argues, is an army of mostly mediocre shooters posting millions of shots at Flickr and selling to advertising agencies via "microstock" sites. Few make a living at the latter, but their gravy is "bread taken from the mouths of professionals," Brown said.

I think he has a point. But I think he misses another, less gloom-and-doom aspect of the digital photography revolution: the innumerable amateurs who are … Read more

Sony's shoulder-mounted HD model for the cash-strapped pro

It may look a little scary to someone who's never held anything bigger than an HC7, but Sony's new HVR-HD1000U shares more in common with that model than the rest of its higher-end brethren. It uses the same single 3-megapixel, 1/2.9-inch ClearVid CMOS sensor and records 1080i HDV video. Even its price, slated to be $1,900 when it ships in December, fits right into the affluent consumer market segment. If that seems a bit steep, remember that its step-up sibling, the 3-chip HVR-V1U, will run you a minimum of $3,500.

Though it's unclear … Read more

Resurrecting Marc Fleury

I was fortunate to spend most of my evening here in Atlanta with JBoss founder Marc Fleury. The second-to-last time I had seen Marc, he had cursed me (literally) for hiring away one of his employees (that employee joined us tonight--all is forgiven :-). The next and last time I saw him he told me he was going to bury my company (or, at least, compete with us).

Tonight, however, Marc was mellow. He strikes me as someone who is at peace, perhaps for the first time in years. He looks great. Seriously. Maybe that's the two weeks he just spent in Spain with family, but I also think he has managed to let money be good for him, rather than a cancer.

Yes, the "old Marc" occasionally flared up, and thankfully so. The industry was better for having had Marc in it. But now he definitely comes across as someone who is looking forward, not backward. He pointed out his "Wicked" T-shirt, but it's from the Broadway musical, not a death-metal band. He's changed.

We talked about a range of things, from his kids (he loves them) to his DJ'ing job (still at it). Oh, and we also plowed through his lessons learned from JBoss.… Read more