NewsPicasa 3.0 Beta: More Speed, Better Photo Repairs and Better RAW Support
Posted 09/05/08 at 10:44:07 PM by Mark Edward Soper
This week, Google unveiled a public beta of its Picasa 3.0 photo-sharing software. Picasa 3.0 offers a huge number of new and improved features that will appeal to both point and shoot and DSLR users. I was particularly impressed by the following:
- A new photo viewer that integrates with Windows Explorer and supports PNG, TGA and RAW formats as well as JPEG, TIFF, BMP, and GIF. The preview window displays thumbnails of other photos in the folder for faster navigation and offers one-click editing in Picasa, one-click uploading, or a one-click slideshow. Even on my less than swift single-core laptop, it displays Canon CR2 RAW files much faster than Windows Live Photo Gallery does. Google tested Picasa 3.0 on systems with up to 1 million photos, and it shows.
- The ability to display image metadata for RAW files from within Picasa.
- The enhanced photo collage creator with six preset designs along with easy drag and drop repositioning and image rotation. It's so good that I wonder if Microsoft Research's new AutoCollage 2008 (which costs $19.95) can compete.
- Improved photo editing tools such as the retouching tool (good for removing scratches and dust) and the tuning tool, which features highlight, shadow, fill light, color picker, and color temperature controls. If you don't want to learn (or pay for) Adobe Photoshop Elements, you can do quite well in fixing less-than-perfect photos.
To see the photo viewer in action, and to find out where to learn more (or just get your hands on Picasa 3.0), join us after the jump.
NewsNew Nikon D90 Features Better Eye-Fi Connected Features
Posted 08/28/08 at 09:28:52 PM by Mark Edward Soper
Eye-Fi, whose line of Wi-Fi-enabled SD cards caught our attention earlier this year, is back in the news: the new Nikon D90 DSLR joins its stablemate, the D60, as the second Eye-Fi-enabled camera.
What's New in the D90?
The D90, which makes its formal bow at Germany's Photokina trade show in late September, adds the ability to temporarily disable Eye-Fi transfer functions through the camera menu; a useful feature in hospitals, airplanes, or anywhere else where you want to prevent images from flying through the ether.
The D90 also features a 12.3MP image sensor, an optional geo-tagging module, Live View, face priority AF, and a 24-fps 720p movie mode, the first movie mode in any DSLR.
Other News from Eye-Fi
Users of any Eye-Fi Share or Eye-Fi card in any camera can also enjoy free geotagging and hotspot access by joining the photo-sharing site SmugMug, in a deal announced earlier this month.
How about it, DSLR fans? Does improved Eye-Fi support make you more likely to preorder a D90? Give us your take after the jump.
NewsMicrosoft Live Labs Photosynth Brings 3D Imaging Power to Everyone 
Posted 08/21/08 at 11:57:17 PM by Mark Edward Soper
Microsoft Live Labs, where Microsoft is helping to create the future of online information, released its Photosynth 3D imaging service yesterday, CNet reports.
Photosynth enables you to create a freely-navigable and zoomable 3D space by combining hundreds of photos with overlapping data, but unlike panorama-stitching programs, you get better results if you shoot your photos from a variety of different angles and zoom settings (or different focal-length prime lenses).Photosynth isn't for photography snobs, either. It works with all types of digital camera images, even from camera phones.
To sign up for Photosynth, you need a Windows Live ID (a free Hotmail account will work). After you sign up for Photosynth, you download free software for viewing synths (Microsoft's term for the 3D images you create with Photosynth) and for creating them. For best "synthiness," you'll need to shoot at least 100 pictures, and many of the examples you can view on the Photosynth website include 200 or more images. If you ever wondered why you need a 4GB or larger flash memory card for your camera, wonder no longer. A thorough Photosynth session can use up every bit of space on your largest memory card.
To learn more about Photosynth, and to give us your comments on this new imaging tool, catch us after the jump.
NewsWhich Digital Cameras Are Best? Ask J.D. Power and Associates
Posted 08/05/08 at 05:44:45 PM by Mark Edward Soper
J.D. Power and Associates have announced the results of their 2008 Digital Camera Usage and Satisfaction Survey, and the winners include:
- Digital SLR cameras: Canon EOS Digital and Nikon D-Series (tie); Olympus, Pentax, and Sony scored way behind the leaders. Canon EOS led in picture quality, while Nikon led in performance and operation.
- Point-and-Shoot cameras: in a crowded field, the Fujifilm Finepix S series was the winner, but not far behind were the Kodak M, V, and Z series, the Olympus Stylus series, the HP Photosmart R series, the Samsung S series, and the Sony Cyber-Shot S Series.
- Premium Point-and-Shoot cameras: Another tie, between Canon PowerShot G series and Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ series. In second place, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ series.
- Ultra-Slim cameras: the Sony Cyber-Shot T series was the winner here, with a three-way tie for second place between the Sony Cyber-Shot W series, the Casio Exilim Zoom series, and the Fujifilm Finepix Z series.
Each camera in the survey was judges on five criteria: overall rating, picture quality, performance, operation, and apperance.
One frustration for serious camera shoppers is the lack of model-specific information, but given the frequent turnover in camera models, perhaps the J.D. Power and Associates method of evaluating by series is the best way.
The survey was conducted between April 2007 and March 2008, and was based on responses from more than 8,000 consumers. See the press release for more information. For more information about J.D. Power and Associates, see their website.
What do you think about the ratings? Give us your best shot after the jump.
NewsAdobe Lightroom 2 Adds 64-Bit Support, Better Interface, and More
Posted 07/30/08 at 09:18:56 AM by Mark Edward Soper
Adobe has released Lightroom 2. Lightroom enables users to view large numbers of RAW or other format photos at a time and to work with photos in groups for editing, tagging, printing, or exporting.
What's New in Lightroom 2
Lightroom 2 adds the following features to the original Lightroom, according to CNet:
- Panorama creation and merge to HDR when used on a system that also runs Photoshop CS3
- New metadata API that permits third-party applications like Flickr to work with Lightroom metadata
- Styles to create JPEG-like images from RAW files
- Dual-monitor support
- Metadata filtering to help find photos faster
- Improved image-sharpening technology licensed from PhotoKit that improves picture quality for printing
- Smart Collections uses tags to create photos by rating and tags
Additional new and enhanced features listed on the Adobe Lightroom 2 website include:
- New local adjustment brush (touch up specific areas of a photo)
- New extensible architecture through plugins
- New volume management enables you to work with high-resolution previews even when the original images are offline
- New print package support
- Enhanced nondestructive photo editing and batch processing
However, the biggest news is 64-bit Windows Vista and MacOS X support.
To learn more about Lightroom 2 and how it relates to other Adobe software, see the Lightroom FAQ page.
Cha-Ching! How Much to Buy (and Try) Lightroom 2
First-time buyers will pay $299 for Lightroom 2. Upgrading from Lightroom 1.x is $99. A free 30-day trial is also available.
NewsEye-Fi Wireless SD Cards Get More Social, Easier to Buy
Posted 07/24/08 at 09:05:47 PM by Mark Edward Soper
We first looked at the Eye-Fi wireless SD flash memory card back in February, and liked its easy uploading and support for photo-sharing sites like Flickr. Now, there are three different models of Eye-Fi cards, new partnerships with Nikon's my Picturetown and Adobe's Photoshop Express give you more ways to share your photos, and you can now find Eye-Fi cards at Circuit City. To learn more about what's new with Eye-Fi, catch us after the jump.
NewsGigaPan Robot Makes Taking Better Panoramic Photos Easy - and Inexpensive
Posted 07/21/08 at 09:38:38 AM by Mark Edward Soper
Some brands of digital cameras and most digital photo editors include software to create panoramic photos, but the results are often less than compelling. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have now created a better way to shoot panoramic photos: get a robot to control the camera.
The New York Times reports that the GigaPan device can be used with almost any standard digital camera and creates very detailed panoramas about 1 gigapixel (one billion pixels) in size. By overlapping hundreds to thousands of individual frames, extremely detailed pictures (visible at the GigaPan website) can be created. Before taking a single frame, GigaPan also calculates how many shots to take and how to control the camera. An Adobe Flash-based control enables you to pan and zoom in and out of the picture to see every detail.
To find out how GigaPan compares to existing panoramic cameras, how much it will cost when it hits the market later this year, and how long it takes to create a panorama with GigaPan, see us after the jump.
NewsKodak Rolls Out 50MP Image Sensor, Hasselblad Puts It to Work
Posted 07/14/08 at 03:32:00 PM by Mark Edward Soper
Eastman Kodak has released its first 50MP image sensor, the KAF-50100, shattering the megapixel count of its previous KAF-39000 model. The KAF-50100 produces 150MB image files, and provides resolution capable of distingishing an object the size of a laptop computer within a 1.5 mile field of view, such as an aerial photo. The sensor is the same physical size (48mm x 36mm) as its previous 39 megapixel model. This is twice the size of the 24mm x 36mm sensor used by full-frame DSLR cameras based on 35mm designs, such as Canon's EOS 5D, and achieves its higher MP count by using Kodak's new TRUESENSE 6.0 micron full frame CCD Technology platform. The image sensor has an 8176 x 6132 pixel array. It's designed for DSLR cameras, but don't expect to see cameras using it at your local big-box electronics store.
To find out more about who's putting this mammoth resolution to work first, join us after the break.
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