Underexposed

Nikon's D3X is now supported by Adobe Lightroom.

(Credit: Nikon)

LAS VEGAS--Adobe Systems has released the final version of Lightroom 2.3, its photo-editing and cataloging software, along with its close relative, the Camera Raw 5.3 plug-in to let Photoshop CS4 edit raw images from higher-end cameras.

The new software (available as a download for Windows and Mac OS X) supports Nikon's top-end D3X, an $8,000, 24.5-megapixel machine whose owners likely will usually prefer raw files for their flexibility and quality advantages over JPEG. Also supported is Olympus' new midrange E-30.

The Lightroom 2.3 update also fixed a number of bugs and adds support for eight new languages: Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Korean, and simplified and traditional Chinese. Adobe made the announcement Monday just as the Photo Marketing Show (PMA) was getting under way here.

The Camera Raw software works with Adobe's flagship CS4 version of Photoshop, but also with the consumer-oriented Photoshop Elements 7, Premiere Elements 7 for video editing, and Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac OS X.

Nikon D3X

(Credit: Nikon USA)

Adobe Systems on Friday issued near-final release candidate versions of Lightroom 2.3 and the Camera Raw 5.3 Photoshop plug-in, software that can support Nikon's new top-end, $8,000, 24.5-megapixel D3X camera and Olympus' mid-range, $1,299, 12.3-megapixel E-30.

According to the release notes, the new Lightroom version also fixes a few bugs: a memory leak that could crash the software while people were making local editing adjustments to photos, a processing error handling smaller sRAW photos from the Canon 5D Mark II, a slideshow glitch, and problems uploading and burning files to discs.

Lightroom is designed for editing, labeling, and cataloging photos--in particular, the flexible but non-standard raw files from higher-end cameras. Adobe Camera Raw is used to handle raw files in the more general-purpose Photoshop software, letting people convert them into JPEG, TIF, or other more portable formats.

The top two SLR makers have released relatively minor firmware revisions for three cameras, Nikon's higher-end full-frame D3 and D700 and Canon's prosumer-grade EOS 40D.

The fixes generally address rare and unusual problems. One notable fix for the D3 and D700 is for a problem which, as Nikon describes it, "in extremely rare cases, resulted in noticeable black dots in images captured with Long exp. NR (long exposure noise reduction) in the shooting menu set to On." Canon fixed a black-dot issue of its own with the EOS 5D Mark II earlier this month, but Nikon's issue sounds rarer.

Forthwith, the release notes:

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.

LAS VEGAS--Two's company, three's a crowd, and Canon's Chuck Westfall is a lot less lonely these days.

Canon once was the sole camera company offering a digital SLR whose sensor is the size of a full frame of 35mm film, a technology that can increase the performance advantage and price penalty that SLR cameras already have compared with compact cameras. In November, though, Nikon began selling its full-frame rival, the D3, and last week Sony said it will launch its own full-frame competitor by the end of 2008.

Chuck Westfall

(Credit: Canon)

Westfall is a camera tech guru and the technical adviser for Canon USA's professional products marketing division. In his 25 years at Canon, he's amassed an encyclopedic knowledge not only of official camera specs but also deeply buried engineering details.

Westfall shared his opinions about the full-frame market and other camera trends during the Photo Marketing Association trade show here. He also discussed fuel cells to replace batteries, flash memory technology, OLED displays, and geotagging.

Talking tech might sound like fun if you represent the company that leads market share both for compact cameras and in the higher-end SLRs, but Westfall also has had to deal with unpleasant autofocus trouble that's afflicted the company's $4,500 photojournalist-oriented EOS-1D Mark III during some shooting conditions. A quality and reputation problem is the last thing a camera maker wants for a model aimed squarely at the professional photographer market that Canon dominates but that Nikon is aggressively courting.

Though Canon is repairing affected 1D Mark III models and has issued a firmware update, the issue still hasn't gone away: Rob Galbraith, the photographer and consultant whose tests brought the problem to light, still believes the 1D Mark III's predecessor has better autofocus, and he reported Monday that Canon is working on yet another fix.

Read on for Westfall's response to the autofocus issue and other thoughts.

CNET News.com: Sony now has said it'll join Canon and Nikon in offering a full-frame camera--its flagship 24.6-megapixel SLR due to launch by the end of the year.
Westfall: It's quite flattering the other companies have recognized what we've known for years--that full-frame is quite a desirable imaging format. I think the full-frame market is set to expand in 2008. There's no doubt about it.

With Nikon and now Sony adding weight to the full-frame market, what role is there for the in-between sensor size, APS-H? (It's about halfway between the full-frame sensors used in the high-end SLRs and the APS-C sensors use in the top-selling models such as the Rebel XTi and 40D. The APS-H is used in the 1D Mark III and its predecessors.)
Westfall: When we introduced APS-H in 2001 with the original EOS-1D, the idea was to compete against other professional DSLRs with APS-C. In that respect it has been extremely successful. At that point it was about what the competition had to offer. It's only been in the last six months that there has been an alternative. We've had a good long run with APS-H.

Going forward, it remains to be seen whether it will continue to be a desirable format. We're not ready to say it's over.

Is there a unique advantage APS-H has over full-frame sensors besides price? Nikon's D3 is a full-frame competitor to the 1D Mark III at about the same cost.
Westfall: At this point, no. Price would be the only thing.

Do you think you've resolved the 1D Mark III autofocus issue?
The hardware fix and firmware update has effectively brought the camera within our design specifications. Under the vast majority of study conditions, the camera is functioning exactly the way we expected it to.

So is it better at autofocus than the 1D Mark II N (the camera's predecessor)?
Westfall: Overall, yes. The system has a lot more to it. There are improvements to the Mark III's autofocus sensor, with 19 cross-type focusing points throughout the frame compared to 7 in the center for the 1D Mark II N. This is an area Rob Galbraith's tests did not address. And there are a lot more customization settings to be able to tweak autofocus accuracy according to the way you shoot--focus priority versus release priority for example.

That said, we are continuing to investigate. We're not disputing anything Rob wrote--he's made a fair and objective test. We have no argument except that the 1D Mark III is a lot closer (to the 1D Mark II N's autofocus performance) in overall performance than his severe tests indicate at first glance and that he doesn't test the full range of conditions. There's more to it.

Geotagging is a hot subject, and much of the discussion at the PMA show seems to have moved from when it will arrive in cameras rather than whether it will. When do you think it will?
Westfall: The desirability of that feature is quite clear. You can see reasons why--classifying, sorting, and searching photos--especially with the advances in technology starting to appear that is taking advantage of the (location) information. That's why we started putting in the optional capability with the wireless transmitters (accessories available for higher-end Canon SLRs).

How far away is the geotagging era?
Westfall: There's no doubt we'll see cameras with built-in GPS within the next two years, possibly sooner. I'm not able to give guidance regarding Canon specifically.

Are you getting pressure to add geotagging support from Web sites such as Google and Yahoo that enable users to make use of geotagged photos?
Westfall: Mostly we're hearing from the vertical markets--professional, commercial, and industrial applications. And the military.

Some envision geotagging as an aspect of "autotagging," in which a rich set of metadata is recorded when the photograph is taken. It might be possible to combine face recognition with autotagging to label photos automatically.
With our PowerShot line, we started autotagging a year ago. We call it "My Category." It has a total of five or six presets and three customizable tags. When you choose a scene mode, it associates for example a "landscape" tag. It can be done in review, too--you can apply it after the fact. For a camera with face recognition, we know when people are present. This will become much more valuable in the future. Facial recognition is a very powerful feature.

Are there any developments in battery technology?
Westfall: Lithium-ion is still dominant. Battery manufacturers have been able to increase the storage density lately. The Canon Rebel XSi battery has a capacity of 1080 milliamp-hours compared to 720 for the Rebel XTi (whose battery is about the same size).

Is there anything more radical on the horizon?
Westfall: Fuel cells. Within the same physical space, you have maybe twice the capacity as lithium-ion batteries. There's a lot of incentive to deliver that. And it's environmentally friendly--it's disposable and refillable.

Samsung is showing its NV24 HD camera, which uses an OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display. Is Canon planning on making that shift?
Westfall: Yes, definitely. We began exploring OLED several years ago. We showed in 2005 a prototype EOS-5D SLR. It was demonstrably brighter, had better color accuracy, and lower power consumption.

A prototype Canon EOS-5D SLR using a OLED display.

(Credit: Canon)

It's common knowledge that Canon is investing in OLED manufacturing ability, making big acquisitions last year. We have the infrastructure needed to bring this online.

And unlike with LCDs, it means you have more of the technology that actually ships in a camera under the Canon roof?
Westfall: Right. We're looking to implement OLED in all our consumer products: digital still cameras, camcorders, and inkjet printers.

There's a new version of CompactFlash memory cards under development that uses the Serial ATA technology rather than the current parallel ATA. You guys use CompactFlash in your SLRs. Will that technology catch on?
Westfall: It remains to be seen. What drives the market is cost and performance issues and availability. That's one reason we elected to wait until now to switch to SD (memory cards) for our Rebel line. The availability of SD cards is better now than even a year ago, and people are more comfortable with it.

I was interested that the 1Ds Mark III has an SD card slot in it as well as a CompactFlash slot.
Westfall: We actually started that with the 1D Mark II in 2004. We were able to add a second slot without changing the overall size of the camera. Now you see a second slot capability on other cameras.

What's changing in the compact camera market?
Westfall: The pricing on these cameras will continue to decline. It's become a more commoditized market, but it's bigger. The forecast for the next three years is it will continue to grow. CIPA (the Camera and Imaging Products Association) forecasts global shipments of 126 million units in 2010 compared to 93 million last year. The challenge is to continue to expand the feature set in the face of price erosion while maintaining profitability. We've got good technology and the highest level of profitability in the digital camera market.

Who's the top competitor?
Westfall: Sony is a very strong competitor. Once you get past them, there are a lot of other companies in there.

Are you worried about Sony entering the SLR market, too?
Westfall: Between us and Nikon, we've got 90 percent of the SLR market. Sony is only in the 5 percent range so far.

With pricing pressures, will you outsource more manufacturing to outside companies?
Westfall: That's not for us. We've increased our Japanese facility for better R&D and manufacturing. We have some outside manufacturing, especially in the point-and-shoot cameras. But we doubled the capacity of our main camera plant in the last two years. To control costs, we're developing more automation in manufacturing.

The jump from 2 megapixels to 4 megapixels is significant, but the jump from 10 to 12 is less dramatic. Is the megapixel race over?
Westfall: We're trying to upgrade the entire camera. The megapixels rating is only one thing. When upgrading, you have to look at more aspects.

Update 5:40 p.m. PST: Westfall requested a few minor changes to his quotations for clarity, such as changing "they" to "battery manufacturers," and I obliged.

Update 4:00 p.m.: I clarified two sentences and added a third to make it clear that Nikon and Canon never forced customers to buy small-frame lenses. Still relevant in my opinion, though, is the practical reality that customers already have and will again.

Rob Gruhl shot this photo with a 12-24mm 'DX' lens geared for small-frame Nikon cameras mounted to a full-frame 'FX' camera, the new D3. The DX lens is designed to shed light only on a small-frame image circle, but the D3 can be set to record on its entire sensor frame. This shot, taken at a focal length of 12mm, shows the portion illuminated with the DX lens.

(Credit: Rob Gruhl)

Canon beat Nikon to market by years with a high-end digital SLR whose image sensor is the size of a full frame of 35mm film. But while Nikon may have been late to the party with its new D3, I think it employed a much smarter approach to a lens compatibility issue.

One of the chief merits of single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras is their ability to accommodate multiple lenses, letting photographers adapt the same camera body to shoot everything from faraway birds to the confined quarters of a small house. It's annoying that one company's lenses generally don't work on another company's camera bodies, but it's even more annoying when a single company's products are incompatible, and the full-frame trend in higher-end cameras has put the spotlight on the issue.

Here's the background. The vast majority of digital SLRs sold today use smaller image sensors measuring roughly 24x16mm that are much less expensive to manufacture than full-frame 36x24mm sensors. Canon and Nikon both have made lenses specifically for these smaller sensors; Canon's small-frame lenses bear the EF-S label and Nikon's are called DX. Although neither company forced anyone to buy these lens lines, many have done so.

One big reason to make small-frame lenses is that wide-angle lenses need to be reworked for small sensors. For example, you need to use a 10mm lens on a small-frame Canon camera such as an EOS 40D to get the same field of view as a 16mm lens on a full-frame camera model such as an EOS 5D. Another big reason is that lenses for smaller sensors can be made smaller and lighter.

For many folks with digital SLRs, having a separate line of lenses for small-frame cameras isn't a big deal. They'll buy a lower-end, small-frame camera, and if they buy a later model, there's a good chance it'll be another small-frame model and their lenses will work fine. But for photographers upgrading to a full-frame camera, the lens compatibility issue rears its ugly head.

Canon shooters can't use small-frame EF-S lenses on full-frame cameras. Full-frame cameras physically can only accommodate EF lenses. Nikon, though, permits its small-frame DX lenses to be mounted on its full-frame FX cameras.

Nikon's approach isn't all smooth sailing. DX lenses are designed to shine light only a small sensor, so by default, a full-frame camera will use only the central portion of the larger sensor, meaning that many pixels are wasted. On the 12.1-megapixel D3, you only get a 5.1 megapixel image. And if you do enable the full sensor to work, in many situations light will only fall on the central pixels anyway, leaving a clear record of the lens' smaller image circle. (The DX-on-FX photo by D3 owner Rob Gruhl above illustrates the effect.)

Nikon's strategy meant that lens compatibility is a bigger issue for professional-level photographers. Its first full-frame camera, the $5,000 D3, has only just hit the market in recent weeks. That means pro-level photographers who wanted to go digital with earlier pro-level SLRs such as Nikon's D2Xs might well have felt no compunctions about investing in small-frame lenses and might have been enticed to do so to get a super-wide-angle zoom, for example.

In addition to the relatively inexpensive "kit" lenses that ship with lower-end SLRs, Nikon DX models include a $900 12-24mm f/4 wide-angle zoom, a $1,200 17-55mm f/2.8, a $600 10.5mm f/2.8mm fisheye, and a $700 image-stabilized 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 super-zoom that's the company's best-selling lens ever.

Canon, on the other hand, introduced full-frame cameras many years earlier--2002 with the EOS-1Ds--when pros weren't as far along in their transition from film to digital and therefore might have been less likely to have made investments in EF-S lenses. Indeed, one EF-S lens useful in getting full performance out of a small-frame SLR, the 10-22mm f/4-5.6 zoom, wasn't even on the market until 2004.

But the market is different now. Canon introduced the full-frame 5D more than two years ago, and it's now available for $2,100. No entry-level buyer will be interested, but that's within the range of a lot of enthusiasts, and I wouldn't be surprised if a more powerful successor (the 5D Mark II? The 7D?) is announced in conjunction with the PMA photo show in January. This is an obvious upgrade path for people who bought solid small-frame models such as the Rebel XT or 20D.

Unfortunately, it's not just a matter of reworking the lens mount on the 5D successor. The approach Canon chose with its EF-S lenses means they physically can't work on full-frame cameras because the camera's reflex mirror, which flips out of the way when a photograph is taken, would strike with the rearmost lens element or at least a rubber ring that protrudes to protect it.

"The reflex mirror on a full-frame camera would definitely collide with the rubber ring on EF-S lenses if someone managed to jam one on," said Canon spokesman and tech guru Chuck Westfall. Canon is not currently rethinking its approach to small-frame lenses on full-frame cameras, he also said.

Canon stands by its approach of permitting only full-frame lenses on full-frame cameras. "In our view, it's more valuable to preserve a full angle of view wherever possible," Westfall said. "The image circle projected by EF-S lenses is only sufficient for EOS digital SLRs with APS-C format (small-frame) image sensors, so allowing such lenses to be mounted on cameras with larger imaging formats wouldn't be practical."

The "S" in EF-S refers to the shorter back-focus distance separating the lenses' rearmost element and the sensor. "Probably the most important potential advantage of shorter backfocus is smaller, lighter and more affordable lenses," Westfall said. "Case in point: EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 is significantly smaller, lighter, and more affordable than a lens of the same zoom range and maximum aperture with full-frame coverage."

Canon has some good engineers and I'm sure it carefully evaluated its options when making small-sensor lenses. Its lens approach probably helped it be the first to market with a sub-$1,000 digital SLR, the original Digital Rebel.

But with full-frame SLRs now dropping in price--potentially even faster now that Nikon is exerting competitive pressure--I think it's too bad Canon didn't opt for a design with better lens compatibility. If you're the type of photographer who might consider upgrading to a full-frame camera, think carefully before laying out nearly $1,000 for a Canon 17-55mm EF-S f/2.8.

• Canon Hood ET-155 - $840 - I guess anybody who can afford Canon's 400mm f/2.8 lens can afford an $840 lens hood to go with it. It's cheaper on B&H, though.
• Moose News Blog » helpful Nikon D3, D300 videos - A link to some detailed Nikon videos on using D3 and D300 SLRs.
• Naked light--Mac OS X Image Editor - An attempt to revolutionize image editing. for Mac OS X, in beta 0.1 right now.
• Photodoto »DSLRs, sensor dust, and NASA - Sensor dust on narrow-aperture photos taken from the Space Shuttle. I wonder if dust is worse in zero gravity...
• JPG Magazine: Stories: Just Say No to the In-flight Movie - Tips on photography from a plane flight.
• One Library To Rule Them All - O'Reilly Digital Media Blog - The Apple Aperture variation of the library/collection question. "Keeping one library lets you take full advantage of Aperture's keywording and search features."
• Dirk's Photo Blog » Tutorial: Create Your Own Planets - How to make those spherical mini-planets from a stitched photo panorama. I love these.
• Nikon offers Capture NX free with D3, D300 - I meant to check about whether the free Capture NX deal was available in the U.S., and apparently it is. Silly that Nikon makes you pay extra for a raw conversion tool ordinarily; though a lot of people won't use it, a lot unfamiliar with raw images will.
• Aaron Toponce » Blog Archive » Why Dvorak? Comfort - Using grep to compare typing efficiency of Dvorak vs. Qwerty keyboard. Result: a lot more time on the home row.
• MPAA's University Toolkit hit with DMCA takedown notice after GPL violation - The ghost of Jack Valenti vs. the spirit of free software.
• HardyHeron/Alpha1 - Ubuntu Wiki - Hardy Heron is the next version of Ubuntu Linux to get long-term support, and the first to get fancy 3D user interface eye candy by default. Alpha one is out.
• HD Photo Specification Download: Version 1.0 - The download site for HD Photo, which MIcrosoft is working to standardize as JPEG XR.

Michael Reichmann just bought his way back into the Nikon fold with the $1,800 D300 SLR.

(Credit: Nikon)

One data point does not a statistical trend make, but Michael Reichmann is a pretty high-profile data point in the fight for SLR camera market share.

The photographer, instructor, and author of the Luminous Landscape Web site switched from Nikon to Canon in the late 1990s. But he said Monday he's resumed buying Nikon gear again, though not switched completely back.

"I had few regrets at the switch (to Canon) through the first seven years of this decade and the move to digital because it's my opinion that with its full-frame sensors and superior high-ISO noise capabilities, Canon had a clear edge," Reichmann said. "But with the introduction of the D300 and D3 a few months ago, I now believe that Nikon is back in the game--big time!"

That's a pretty strong endorsement, but bear one caveat in mind here: Reichmann, who also shoots with medium-format Hasselblad and Phase One gear and with high-cachet Leica cameras, isn't a typical photographer with a typical equipment budget. Most of us in the SLR realm think carefully about buying a single lens, much less multiple lenses, lens bodies, filters, flashes, and other accessories.

Reichmann said he just bought a D300 and several lenses and will shoot with it regularly. And when a higher-resolution full-frame cousin to the D3 arrives, he'll buy that, too.

"I feel that there is now going to be a huge resurgence in use of Nikon gear by pros and amateurs alike, and as a teacher and a writer it is appropriate for me to become much more familiar with what this platform now has to offer," he said.

Canon's EOS-1D Mark III

(Credit: Canon)

Shortly after Canon announced a hardware fix for autofocus problems affecting some of its high-end EOS-1D Mark III cameras, the leading SLR maker also has added a software fix.

Version 1.1.3 of the Camera's firmware "improves autofocus tracking" when shooting outdoors in bright environments or when shooting low-contrast subjects, Canon said. In addition, the firmware can speed the process of writing images to high-speed SD memory cards.

Canon's biggest rival for single-lens reflex cameras, Nikon, also released some new firmware for its brand new D3 and D300 models that endows them with the color performance of the earlier D2X and D2Xs professional models. The updates don't yet appear on the U.S. Web site, but DPReview has a handy list of European links.

Canon also announced in a service notice that it will begin repairs for affected customers beginning December 3 at a dedicated facility. The company will pay shipping both ways for affected customers and will install the firmware during the repair, but customers should brace themselves for a wait.

"Due to the anticipated volume, we ask for your continued patience and understanding during this process," Canon said in the notice. "We offer our sincerest apologies to our customers using these products who have been inconvenienced by this issue."

The repair involves adjusting a mirror used in the autofocus subsystem and affects some cameras built with an original mirror mechanism. Cameras with an updated mirror mechanism aren't affected; those models have serial numbers above 546561, but there are also 2,713 models with lower numbers (yes, I counted) on a Canon list (click for PDF).