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. 

Comments

[Ryanello]

Here is the link to the 59 dollar Spyder you spoke of.

http://www.amazon.com/ColorVision-Spyder2-Express-Win-Mac/dp/B000ES4PYU/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1214535879&sr=8-3

[Tom]

I'm very sorry to see you included the link about the 5D II.
I know about the DPreview post that you mention. This was simply bogus. Some people have such a low self esteem value that this makes them feel better. Please don't support such things.....
Thank you. Very good blog.

[Scott Sherman]

Thanks for the link, Ryanello. I actually had it in the notes, but for some reason it - as well as some of my other text - didn't appear, so I republished it.

Tom, why are you sorry I included the link? I think it's helpful to link to supposedly-believable posts online after they've been proven untrue - it illustrates that you have to be careful and critical when reading info from unofficial sources. It may look and sound credible, but if its unsourced, take it with a grain of salt.

[John Flinchbaugh]

OS X has a relatively capable eyeball calibration tool which is better than nothing and doesn't cost anything more.
Settings -> Displays -> Color tab -> calibrate button.

For Linux, I use a GAMMApage to do the eyeball calibration. http://www.pcbypaul.com/software/GAMMApage.html

[Jim Gilliland]

Scott,

Another good show with more than your share of content.

[Stefan]

Thanks for another great show! Your goal to make another show already this year gives us something to look forward to :-)

But why do you now keep show notes in two places? It must be as annoying for you as for anyone else to have to check two web pages to see new comments from the listeners, right?
If you will publish the show notes on scottsphotoblog.com from now on then I think you should disable the possibility to add comments on digiphoto.thepodcastnetwork.com.

Cheers!

[Chris]

Hey Guys,
I'm listing to the show where a listener called in and wanted a suggestion for an online portfolio site with the option for selling prints.
I have looked around forever and found Zenfolio to be the best, for me anyway. It has the cleanest layout I could find. I use it to shoot my kids little league games and let parents buy prints. If you sign up for a Pro account you can set the prices.

Here is my url:
chrisrocket.com
or
images.chrisrocket.com
or
zenfolio.com

Thanks for doing such a great show!

Chris Roqué

[Cindy Hamilton]

I listened to your podcast on screen calibration. I have a new VAIO laptop with gorgeous screen resolution, color, etc. The problem that I have is my pictures look bright and beautiful on my screen, but when I print them out, they are dark. So, I figure that my laptop is “fooling” my mind and I can’t trust what I see on the screen. I haven’t broken down and actually purchased some of these pictures “online” to see what they look like. Any suggestions?
Thanks. Cindy

[LuisaOliver21]

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