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Phase One releases pro version of raw photo editor

Phase One has begun selling Capture One 4 Pro, the newest incarnation of the company's higher-end photo editing software.

The software is designed to handle the raw images from higher-end cameras--in particular Phase One's highly regarded medium-format models with up to 65-megapixel resolution, but other manufacturers' models as well. The pro version costs $399 or 299 euros, compared to $129 or 99 euros for the standard version, the Copenhagen-based company said.

Capture One Pro version has several features missing from the standard version: it can correct some lens problems such as distortion, purple fringing, vignetting, and chromatic aberration … Read more

Adobe embraces latest Canon, Nikon, Sony SLRs

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 … Read more

Software, camera allies try easing photo data pains

It's a boon that digital photos can incorporate textual information, leaving behind some film-era complications, such as having to separately record a photo's caption or copyright status.

But there are some problems handling this so-called metadata, and now Canon, Adobe Systems, Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and Nokia have banded together to solve some of them.

The companies have formed the Metatdata Working Group and released a first set of guidelines that attempts to standardize some issues that can crop up as metadata travels from cameras to computers, software, and Web sites. On Wednesday, the group announced its work at … Read more

Phase One announces lenses for its pro camera

Phase One is fleshing out its transformation from a maker of high-end image sensors for others' cameras into a maker of full-on cameras.

At the Photokina camera show in Germany, the company announced "successful alliances" with Leica Camera, Mamiya, and Hartblei to bring third-party lenses to its Phase One 645 camera system, and it said it will begin selling several lenses of its own by the end of the year. Those lens models are a 28mm f4.5, a 45mm f2.8, an 80mm f2.8, a 120mm f4.0, a 150mm f2.8, and a 75-150mm f4.… Read more

Adobe tests Lightroom 2.1 with new SLR support

Adobe Systems has put out a Lightroom 2.1 release candidate that stamps out a number of bugs, improves performance in some cases, and adds support for several newer Nikon cameras.

As with the test version of the Camera Raw 4.6 and DNG Converter software released last week, the new software supports raw images from Nikon's midrange D90 and higher-end D700 SLRs, its top-end Coolpix P6000 compact camera, and Fujifilm's Finepix IS Pro camera, according to the Lightroom 2.1 release notes. (Updated 9:35 a.m. PDT Sept. 22 with the correct Nikon camera model number.) … Read more

Adobe supports latest Nikon SLRs; Canon next

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 … Read more

Featured Freeware: PhotoScape

Add another name to the roster of feature-rich freeware image editors: PhotoScape. Although it eats and leaks about as much memory as Firefox--no, really!--this editor is just about perfect for those making the jump between JPEG and am-pro digital SLR work.

The program loads fast and possesses an interface completely different from those familiar with Adobe's industry-leading tools. Users are greeted by a circular navigator complemented by a tabbed nav. on the top of the main screen. PhotoScape supports RAW, as well as all other major image formats from JPEG and PNG to animated GIFs. It comes with … Read more

Revamped Google Picasa site identifies photo faces

Google wants to help you put a name to that face.

With a face recognition feature set to launch at noon PDT Tuesday, Google's Picasa Web Albums will help users label their photos with the names of subjects. That and other changes to the photo-sharing site are joined by a new beta version of the accompanying Picasa 3.0 photo-editing software.

The "name tag" feature presents users with collections of photos with what it judges to be the same person, then lets them click a button to affix a name. Once photographic subjects are named, users can … Read more

Microsoft, Nikon sign patent-sharing deal

Microsoft and Nikon have signed a cross-licensing deal that gives each company access to the other's patents.

The deal is one of a growing list from Microsoft, which has been seeking to establish the heft and significance of its intellectual property effort.

Detailed terms of the Nikon deal weren't disclosed, but the companies said Nikon is compensating Microsoft through the alliance.

"The companies believe that this patent cross-licensing agreement will substantially benefit customers of consumer products including digital cameras," the companies said in a statement Wednesday. "Both parties will be able to innovate openly with … Read more