Scott's Photo Blog

Show Notes for The Digital Photography Show #92

Hope you liked the 92nd episode of The Digital Photography Show! We took a little longer to come out with it than we had hoped, but we put some extra research into some of these topics so that we could give you the best information possible. But you can tell we haven't talked on air in awhile - this may be our longest show ever!

Here are some of the links we talked about on the show.

We're getting great feedback from people who got Scott Kelby's most recent work, The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2. I don't know anyone who doesn't love this book. It's filled with hundreds of great tips for improving your photography.

It's especially critical that you get it this book if you're considering setting up a home studio or purchasing a lighting kit. It will save you a lot of research, time and money.

Color Calibration:

Here's the article claiming that 20 inch iMacs don't display "millions of colors. There's a lawsuit about this.  The whole thing is pretty ugly, but as we say on the show, most people probably couldn't tell the diference.

Special thanks to the brilliant Mike Chaney, who advised us via email on this discussion. Take a look at his excellent and informative column here.

Color calibration solutions we discuss on the show:

• X-Rite Eye-One Display 2 ( Windows / Mac ): The color calibration solution used by Scott Kelby - and if its used by Scott, it has to be good. 
• X-Rite Eye-One Display LT, Accurate Monitor Calibration for the Cost Conscious Pro: A cheaper solution from X-Rite, says it has an "easy upgrade path" to the version above.
• "Special" ColorVision Spyder 2 Colorimeter suite "Special Price": A less expensive solution from a well-respected company - about $130 on Amazon, but I found it for $99 on Adorama through Amazon - sweet suite, huh? 
• ColorVision Spyder2 Express Win/Mac: Here's the crazy-cheap $59 version of the Spyder2. It has a rating of four stars from 99  users on Amazon, which is pretty fine for this price.

Canon 5D Mark II on the way?  This old article from Gizmodo thought so, but it was wrong. Sorry! We contacted our go-to guy at Canon, Rudy Winston, and he said there's on official word on if - or probably, "when" - we'll see a new iteration of the 5D. 

Rudy reminded us, though, that the 5D is still a fantastic camera. It's available on Amazon here for $1899, which, it's amazing to note, is $1,400 less than its list price in 2005, when Pop Photo named it their Camera of the Year. That's a pretty dramatic price drop for a camera that's still so widely used and coveted, and hasn't been replaced by a newer model.

Shameless Plug: Don't forget to check out my novel: First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery. Fair disclosure, like many of life's pleasures, it's only for grown-ups. 

My Camera Phone Can Beat Up Your Point and Shoot

I said it was a matter of time before camera phones made point and shoot models - especially at the low end - obselete.

Here to prove me right is the delectable Sony Ericsson C905 (catchy name!) Not only does it sport a fetching 8.1 megapixel resoluton, but, as CNET notes:

...it's not all about the megapixels as the C905 has a Xenon flash, an image stabilizer, face detection, and autofocus, to name just a few of the camera options available to you.

This beats many P&S's on the market. 

iPhone? What iPhone?

New DSLR Rumors Abound

Engadget today ran a particularly fake-looking picture of the rumored successor to the Nikon D80 called...inspiringly...the Nikon D90. Even Engadget admits that the "D90" badge looks a little dodgy. This was originally posted on Nikon Rumors.

Meanwhile, Canonophiles are breathlessly awaiting word of a 5D Mark II. The rumor first appeared on Gizmodo back in March 2008, when they predicted an April 22nd launch. Uh, not so much.

But they later reported on May 25, 2008 that a book called Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Field Guide appeared on Amazon.com, with a publication date of November. 

Well, the book doesn't appear there anymore. Also, the first version of the book appears to have been published on April 28, 2008, which means that Amazon would have had a listing for the sequel less than a month later. That author must work fast. Lastly, here's the shot of the book from Gizmodo - doesn't it look a little, uh, amateurish to you (the arrow and question marks are mine)? And the camera pictured on the cover is the original 5D!

 

While I'm sure there will someday be a new version of the 5D (I'm not so certain about the D80), I'm not convinced that these "clues' are anything other than the efforts of overzealous Photoshoppers. But, I'll hold out hope. What do you think?

Paint Shop Pro at a Ridiculously Low Price

I think this might be for today only (Thursday, June 12, 2008) but Amazon.com has Paint Shop Pro X2 at a crazy-low price of $39! Check it out here: Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

While many of us are Photoshop users, Paint Shop Pro is an extremely powerful program. It got a four out of five rating from PC World , who said:

I've said before that Paint Shop Pro  gives you Photoshop -like powers at a Photoshop Elements price, and that holds true in PSPPX2. For professional printing, Adobe Photoshop CS3 is still the only way to go, and for a complete photo management and editing package, Photoshop Elements 6 remains tops. PSPPX2's real strength is in image editing and graphics creation, and, truthfully, there's not much in those areas that the program can't do. This new release only strengthens the program's toolkit.

Digital Camera Review also found it superior to Photoshop Elements, although they didn't like it for editing RAW images:

Overall, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 is an impressive image editor with a wide selection of powerful tools that are easy to use. In some ways X2 is a much more capable image editor than the similarly priced Adobe Photoshop Elements application. Features such as the ability to work in CMYK, add instant DOF effects, convert your images to infrared or simulate old film, and quickly use makeover tools make X2 a much easier to use program than anything the competition has to offer.

That said, the limited RAW support and overly slow processing with older computers makes Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 less useful for many consumers. Ultimately we think Corel has a winner on their hands ... but there's still some room for improvement.

And remember - those reviews were calling PSPP X2 a winner at $100 - today you can get it for $40. Crazy.

What's Next in DSLRs

Popular Photography magazine has a web-exclusive article predicting what's next for the big companies that make DSLRs.

Nothing too earth-shaking or surprising. Most of the companies are predicted to update the models that are, uh, due for updates. You can read the details here.

There's also a podcast you can listen to, but why would you listen to any podcast other than this one? Smile.

Show Note for The Digital Photography Show #91 - Scott Kelby's Back On The Digital Photography Show

It was a great pleasure to interview Scott Kelby for over an hour on The Digital Photography Show #91, which you can find here.

Scott is just the nicest guy, and we had a great time talking. I him some random questions from his newest book, The Digital Photography Book Vol. 2, and he handled them like a pro. Which, of course, he is.

As you'll hear in the interview, The Digital Photography Book is a great resource.  Volume 1 was the best-selling digital photography book of all time, so you know Volume 2 will be remarkable.

We also chat about his newest book, The Mac OS X Leopard Book. which, as a new Mac user, I could really use. No one does technical writing with the ease and humor of Scott Kelby.

If you want to enter the drawing for one of Scott's books, go to his homepage here and check out his list of "Popular Posts" on the right.  Send us an email at  TheDigitalPhotographyShow@gmail.com staring how many comments have been posted on that entry. We'll accept any correct answer between the number of comments as of today and whatever number it may reach by the contest's close on June 30, 2008.

And a great big thanks to all the  The Digital Photography Show listeners who bought my book, First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery, and wrote me to say how much they liked it.  Please check out the description and reviews, and if it sounds like the kind of thing you might enjoy, please pick up a copy to support me and the show. Thanks to you, the book was briefly the 20,000th best selling book on Amazon (of course, Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Book Vol. 2 is currently something like the 121st best selling book on Amazon, but hey, it's my first effort!).

Thanks, everybody!

Go to the World's Largest Digital Photography Trade Show - For Free!

The great folks at Think Tank Photo, who have been huge supporters of The Digital Photography Show, are giving you a chance to win a free trip to Photokina, the world's largest trade show dedicated to digital photography. 

Here's the blurb from their page:

Open to all photographers, worldwide!

September 22-27, 2008

Cologne, Germany

If you are a photographer, you are eligible to enter Think Tank Photo’s drawing for free round-trip airfare, hotel, spending money, and exhibition passes to photokina, the world’s largest photo and imaging trade fair. Join over 160,000 visitors from 156 countries in exploring 1,600 exhibitors of cutting edge imaging products from almost 50 countries. And, you get to hang around Cologne with the gang from Think Tank Photo (what could be better!).

Taking place every two years in Germany, Photokina exhibits hundreds of photographic-related companies. For more information on Photokina, visit the official site at www.photokina-cologne.com

Go here to enter Think Tank Photo's contest. 

Adobe's Complicated Beta - Plus, No New Photoshop Yet (Insert Sad Face Here).

Adobe is offering a complicated scheme for people who want to try the beta versions of their upcoming software.

The next versions of their  Dreamweaver, Soundbooth and Fireworks software are available for a 48 hour free trial. After that, they  self-destruct. Cue the Mission Impossible theme...

Unless you are a registered CS3 user, then, you get to keep using the betas until the final applications are released, at which time Adobe will send a team of ninjas to your office to uninstall them. Or they'll figure out some other way to turn off the program's functionality. We'll have to see.  (Probably not ninjas.)

You can get to the download pages for these products through links in the article from CNET here.

Meanwhile: Yawn.  While I'm sure Dreamweaver, Soundbooth and Fireworks have their audiences, there's only one product that I'd bother with in beta - Photoshop CS4. Or, whatever they call it. (It could be named Photoshop Big Stinky Poop for all I care!)

From what I hear, the next version of Photoshop might be radically different, at least as far as usability applies.

Photoshop is a fantastically deep and rich program, but you could spend a lifetime learning how to use it.  Photoshop's John Nack (who CNET calls "John Nash," come on people!) has said he wants to keep the program just as powerful, but make it easier to use.

Can't wait to see what that looks like...