Apple announces iLife ‘09

In what makes complete sense, Apple has refreshed it’s iLife suite of Applications for the Mac. It’s ‘09 and using iLife ‘08 just seemed wrong. iLife ‘09 fixes all that. 

Of  interest to myself as it’s related to photography are the new features of  iPhoto: 

Faces

Faces allow to you use face detection technology to identify and organize your photos by who’s in them. 

Places

Places allows you to geo-tag your photos if you have a GPS enabled camera, and if you don’t you can still tag your photos manually. I don’t know how much I’d use this feature. I know where I am, and where I’ve been  - but if you travel a lot this could become a feature you couldn’t live without. 

Themed Slideshows. 

Slideshows are fun, and now there’s themed slideshows which is customizable. You can create slideshow project and after you select the photos you can create a custom slideshow. Slideshow themes include Classic, Shatter, Snapshots, Scrapbook, Ken Burns, and Sliding Panels.

Online Sharing

This is in my opinion, worth the price of the upgrade. I’m not much of a facebook user for photos - but the boss is, and this will be a great relationship saver. I can import the photos to iPhoto, have her edit/select the ones that she wants, and then I can upload to facebook directly from iPhoto . This is much better than having to export the photos first and then upload. This makes facebook photo uploads a one-step solution. 

Also with this upgrade is an easy  way to upload to flickr. I’m relatively new to flickr and one of the discouraging items for me was the workflow. I’d have to export my photos to my desktop (or other folder) first and then upload to flicker and tag all the photos. No big deal if you have just a few photos but I like to share lots. And, combine this with flickr’s ‘blog this’ button and after a bit of setup and configuration you’ve got a really easy  way to photoblog. 

Enhanced Photo Editing. 

From what I’ve seen so far, this may be the let-down for me. Save for red-eye adjustments I’ll probably still want to edit and post process in photoshop or lightroom. Far as I can tell, much hasn’t changed here from ‘08

You can read more about iLife and iPhoto at Apple.com 

50 Years of the Canon SLR Camera

Canon has been making and selling SLR cameras for 50 years. Starting in 1959 with the Canoflex and continuing with the FI, AE-1, T90, EOS 650, EOS-1, EOS Rebel all the way up to Canon’s latest - the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. 

Canon’s history with 35mm single-lens reflex cameras began in May 1959, when Canon Inc. launched the Canonflex. Thereafter, the Company continued to introduce cameras that embodied solid technology and innovativeness, including the F-1, its first professional model (1971); the AE-1, the world’s first single-lens reflex camera with built-in CPU (1976); and the T90, a state-of-the-art T Series model(1986).

 

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Kodak Easyshare M1093 IS Digital Camera Review

The Kodak Easyshare M1093 IS is a 10 megapixel compact camera with a full feature set including two different types of red eye reduction, a Smart Capture mode that does all the heavy lifting for you and high definition still pictures and video. This is really two cameras:  A simple point and shoot or a compact that offers complete customization. The choice is yours

Out of the box the camera comes with: 

The camera itself

a little plastic dock

(here’s a photo of the camera in the dock)

Wrist Strap

USB Cable

Power Adapter

Battery

Kodak Easyshare Software. (Version 7.0 for Windows/Version 6.1 for Mac) 

Owners Manual (I’m in Canada, so both English and French Versions) 

An ‘exclusive offer’ that reminds you to install and register with your easyshare software. (Not sure yet what is offered - but I haven’t installed the software yet, so we’ll see)  - update -I still have no idea what the offer is when registering. 

Out of the box this little compact is ready to run. It comes with enough battery  juice to play with and internal memory for 5 photos. enough for you to play with the camera’s features and take a few test snaps before you have to plug it in to charge. I didn’t time it, but a full charge took me less than 2 hours. 

Startup time on this camera is quick and fast. You’re ready to shoot almost instantly and the camera defaults to ‘Smart’ mode. 

The Smart mode is one of four modes available: 

1. Smart Capture Mode: This mode does it all for you adjusts exposure, iso speed, focus. point and shoot.

2. Movie. Self explanatory, really. this little kodak allows you to make High Definition movies. (720p) 

3. Program. You’d use this setting if you want to tweak the settings below. Want to always shoot at a high ISO, for example? This would be the settings you would use. 

4. Scene. You can select different scenes to use. For example if shooting a close up you could use the close-up scene. or the panarama modes to shoot neat panoramas which ’stitch’ multiple photos to create a panoramic view. 

Let’s start with the Smart Capture Mode: 

In this mode, the camera does most, if not all of the settings adjustments for you but there are a few modifications you can make: 

You can change the picture/file size. The default is 10MP. (You paid for a 10MP camera - might as well use it as such). But, if you want you can change the file sizes to smaller: 

• 10 Megapixels
• 8.9 Megapixels
• 7.5 Megapixels
• 5.0 Megapixels
• 4.5 Megapixels
• 3.8 Megapixels
• 3.1 Megapixels
• 2.8 Megapixels 
• 2.4 Megapixels

Other setting you can change are: 

LCD Brightness 

• High Power
• Power Save

LCD Dimmer 

• OFF
• 10 Seconds
• 20 Seconds
• 30 Seconds

Image Storage

• Auto
• Internal Memory

Set Tag

This option allows you to tag your photos

• Add Tag
• Delete Tag
• Clear ALL

Date Stamp

• ON
• OFF

Red Eye Reduction

• Pre Flash
• Digital Correction

Image Stabilizer 

• ON 
• OFF

Orientation Sensor

• Still - On/Off
• Video - On/Off

Camera Sounds

• Sound Themes - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Power On- Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Focus Lock - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Shutter - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Self Timer - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Error - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None

Sound Volume

• Low 
• Medium 
• High
• Off

Date and Time - allows you to set/modify date/time

Digital Zoom

• ON
• OFF
• Auto Power OFF
• 1 minute
• 3 minute
• 5 minute
• 10 minute

Video Out. 

• NTSC
• PAL Read more
  
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Kiss JPG Magazine Goodbye

An Update: savejpg.com has been created in an effort to save JPG Magazine. 

JPG Magazine is closing its doors, effective Monday January 5 according to a blog post on their site by the magazine’s editor in chief Laura Bruno Miner: 

We’ve spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we’ve reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but just weren’t able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009.

The post goes on to mention a few things you might want to do before then if you will be affected by this decision: 

- Download the PDFs of back issues, outtakes, and photo challenge selections. We’ll always have the memories! 
- Make note of your favorite photographers. You may want to flip through your favorites list and jot down names and URLs of some of the people you’d like to stay in touch with. You may even want to cut and paste your contacts page into a personal record.
- Catch up with your fellow members. Our roots are in this humbleflickr forum and we recommend going back to find fellow members, discuss the situation, or participate in another great photo community. 
- Keep in touch. This has always been much more than just a job to each of us, and we’ll miss you guys! We’ll be checking the accountjpgletters@gmail.com in our free time going forward. We can’t promise to reply to every email (since we’ll be busy tuning up our resumes) but we’d love to hear from you.
- Stay posted. Although the magazine is ceasing publication, we’ll be updating you on what’s happening with your subscription early next week.

It’s sad to watch all the print publications die one by one this year, and it’s a real shame to lose a good publication such as this.

Save 10% at Ritz Camera. Today Only.

Ritz Camera offers 10% off your purchase of in-stock products when you pay with paypal. Today only. 

Of course, there’s exceptions: This doesn’t apply to the Canon 5D (all configurations), the Nikon D3x (all configurations), the Nikon D3 (all configurations), the Nikon D300 (all configurations), and the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III (all configurations).

But it doesn’t say anything about the Nikon D700 which would be a a great Digital SLR to grab for 10% less than anybody else has it listed at. 

The Nikon D700 is $2399, subtract 10% and you’ve got a Nikon D700 for $2159, which is definitely the lowest price I’ve seen on this Digital SLR. Amazon lists this camera at $2319

If you’re interested in a Nikon D700, or any other in stock item, this is the last day for your expenditure to show up for the 2008 tax year. April comes soon, too soon.

Just a few days left on Amazon’s Free Memory Offer

Just a reminder that the Amazon  offer of a free 4gb Memory Card with the purchase of a top selling digital camera ends soon. Jan 3 is the last day you can take advantage of this offer. 

You’ll get a FREE Kingston 4 GB Memory Card with the purchase of top selling cameras such as the Canon Powershot G10, Nikon Coolpix S60, Canon Powershot SD790IS, and many more popular models. If you’ve been on the fence for a new digital camera, then this is the time. Get some free memory while you can.

Deal. Apple MacBook 17inch for just $1999.00

B+H offers the Apple Apple 17″ MacBook Pro Notebook Computer for just $1999.00. If you’re a shooter looking for a desktop replacement, or just a new notebook - this may be it for you. 17 inches gives you lots of screen real estate for menus and still giving you lots of room for your workflow. 

Features include: 

• 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
• 2GB (2×1GB) RAM
• 250GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
• 8x SuperDrive
• nVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 512MB Graphics
• 17″ Widescreen Display
• iSight Webcam, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• 802.11n AirPort Extreme
• Mac OS X Leopard
• 6.8 lb 

Rounding out this deal is Parallels Desktop 4.0 Software for Mac OS X (OEM) for free. A $70 value.

Deal. Canon G10 for $409. Save $90 off regular price

Amazon.com offers the Canon G10 for $409.99, a savings of over $90 off the list price of $499.99. This is the lowest price I have seen on Canon’s G10. Some of the features include 14.7 megapixels, a wider zoom (28mm) and a 5x optical zoom lens.

Kodak EasyShare M1093 High ISO Examples.

One of the features o f the KODAK EasyShare M1093IS is the HIGH ISO capabilities. So I thought I’d test some real world examples. This is mixed light too. Low daylight on the foreground and flourescant filling in from above. I’ve got the exposure mode set to PROGRAM and then took the exact same photo, except for different ISO settings all else is the same.

ISO 100-400 are pretty much the same. A bit of grain shows up at ISO 800 but again produces very usable pictures. ISO 1600, the quality is little less but still useable. AT ISO 3200 things get pretty grainy and noisy. If ANY photo was better than no photo, then ISO 3200 would do the trick but I doubt I’d be hanging the photo in a gallery. The camera offers a ISO 6400 option as well, but requires you to change the image size to less than 3.1MB, so I didn’t test it. ISO 3200 is as high as you can go with the settings at 10MP which is the resolution I’m testing at. It’s advertised as a 10MP camera so that’s how it gets tested.

ISO I00

ISO 200

ISO400

ISO800

ISO 1600

ISO3200

Kodak EasyShare M1093IS Sample Images

I’m still working on the review of the Kodak Easyshare M1093 IS full review, but I thought I’d post some sample images I managed to get with this little compact camera. Clicking on these images will take you to larger versions if you wish. Also, no enhancement on these whatsoever. These photos are straight out of the camera. 

Worth noting is the  images of the street intersection at night. The camera chose ISO 3200 for this shot. It’s a pretty clean considering this it’s dark as it is out. Not as clean as ISO 100 but definitely a usable photo at this high an ISO.

I hope to have the review for this posted later this week, but so far I like it. The Auto White Balnace works very well. See the photo of the store. See all those flourescant lights? That’s a hard thing to balance for  with some cameras.