Photography News

Bogen Imaging sends word of their 17 city tour of some of the biggest and best photography stores across the USA. During the "Gitzo 5-Star Summer Tour" Bogen will be showcasing the latest gear from Gitzo and offering big discounts (in addition to mail-in rebates) when you trade in your old gear.

The cities include: Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Houston and more. [MORE]

The GigaPan summer sale is on and you can save $80 on their GigaPan Epic model. This "robotic" accessory guides you through taking picture-perfect panoramic shots with you compact P&S camera. Through August 31, 2009 GigaPan is offering the "Epic" for only $299. [MORE]

DataColor, the makers of the Spyder line of color balance and calibration tools have announced a summer rebate program on their Spyder3Elite, Spyder3Pro, and SpyderCube products.

The SpyderCube is a white-balance management device for RAW calibration. During the entire month of July, receive a $15 rebate by mail with qualifying purchase. (http://65.223.171.200/rebates/SpyderCube_July2009.pdf)

The Spyder3Elite and Spyder3Pro monitor calibration devices feature a staggered rebate schedule. Receive $30 off the Spyder3Elite purchased July 1-15 and August 1-15, 2009. Receive $20 off the Spyder3Pro when purchased July 16-31 and August 16-31, 2009.

Needing to print some enlargements from summer weddings, vacations, or portraits? MPIX is already one of the leading online print sites and now they are offering 25% off all enlargements 16x20 and up. Simply use the promo code "LARGEPRINTS" when placing your order. Offer is good until July 15, 2009.

Samsung today announced the expansion of their popular SL series cameras with two new models, both due in August 2009. Both the The SL720 and SL502 models sport a 5x optical zoom and 12.2 megapixel resoultion and a new sporty design.

“These are two of the most full-featured compact digital cameras on the market,” said Reid Sullivan, senior vice president of audio/video and digital imaging marketing, Samsung Electronics America. “Typically, consumers may feel like they have to sacrifice functionality in order to find a digital camera priced within their means, but that’s not the case with the new SL720 and SL502. Samsung is giving consumers the ability to experience the latest and most advanced digital imaging technology, helping them step up to a more robust, feature-packed camera which will help take their photography to a whole new level.” [MORE]

Photomatix Pro version 3.2 has been released and is available for download from:

http://www.hdrsoft.com/download/win.html (Windows)
http://www.hdrsoft.com/download/mac.html (Mac)

The main updates in version 3.2 are:

• Multi-threading support for Tone Compressor and parts of Details Enhancer
  
• Details Enhancer settings improvements: New mode offering finer control for Smoothing setting (i.e. the setting that controls natural vs artificial look) and improved effect of Highlights Smoothness (i.e. the setting that preserves "clean" skies)
  
• Ability to tag saved images with keyword
  
• Built-in presets for Details Enhancer
  
• More robust alignment for "by matching features" method.
  
• Batch processing advanced options: automatic detection of bracketed photos and ability to process a sub-set of each bracketed set.

The upgrade to version 3.2 is free of charge for licensed users of Photomatix Pro versions 3 and 2.

Looking for some advanced Photoshop training? KelbyTraining.com, founded by Photoshop expert Scott Kelby sends word of a special offer when you subscribe to a year of online training through their site. This offer is good through July 31, 2009.

Read the photographyvoice.com REVIEW of one of these online courses

KelbyTraining.com brings you the best photographers, Adobe® Photoshop® experts,web developers,and creative design gurus on the planet. Join Scott Kelby, Joe McNally, Moose Peterson, Julieanne Kost, Jack Davis, and many others as they teach you the hottest and latest tips, tricks, and essential techniques for dramatically boosting your photography and Photoshop® skills.

Plus, for a limited time purchase a one-year subscription to KelbyTraining.com and receive a FREE copy of either Photoshop® CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks book (offer code: KTTRICKS) or The Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 Book for Digital Photographers (offer code: KTDIGITAL), from best-selling author Scott Kelby, The Moment it Clicks, by Joe McNally (offer code: KTCLICKBK) or Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature, by Matt Kloskowski (offer code: KTLAYERSBK) (READ THE photographyvoice.com REVIEW).

This all-you-can-eat buffet includes course on portrait photography, wedding photography, advanced editing, Lightroom, Photoshop, and specific get-to-know-your-camera courses. The full list is available at http://www.kelbytraining.com/online/all-classes.html.

Canon has announced the development of a new hybrid image stabilization technique that addresses blur from not only the shift of the camera, but angle adjustments as well. The new technology is expected to be on their new DSLR lenses before the end of 2009. [MORE]

Olympus announced today their newest in the Stylus series: the 12MP, 7x optical zoom Stylus-7010. The lens ranges from 28mm to 196mm (35mm eq.) and is pocket-ready at only one inch thick when the lens is retracted. Due for release next month, this camera will retail for $199 US. [MORE]

Additionally Olympus unveiled three new entries in their FE line of compact cameras. All featuring 12MP, wide-angle zoom, and loads of in camera features and filters. They are slated for September 2009 release. [MORE]

Corel is running special summer sale through July 31 if there are any tools like Painter or Paint Shop Pro that you've been meaning to get, but waiting for a good price. For Painter they are offering a free 80GB harddrive with the download version.

Among the deals:

• Paint Shop Pro X2 for $49.99


• Painter 11 for $399/$199 (upgrade) with 80GB harddrive and free shipping


• Photo and Video Bundle for $79.99


• PhotoImpact X3 for $39.99/$29.99 (upgrade)

Corel is also working with XRite offering the new ColorMunki color calibration tool for $50 off the $499 retail price.

Full details at: http://communications.corel.com/servlet/website/ResponseForm?JhkLsEcNsR_.2eLHs7sLkm_1z_zLnUErLOpgFiLpKLODJht

The next version of Windows sans the fancy name, Windows 7 has gone gold. This means:

Essentially, an RTM launch day means that Microsoft has baked the final changes into its operating systems. Redmond will now start providing images of those OSes to its partners for integration into various products.

The slated release day is October 22, 2009. I've been using Windows 7 for the past several months in beta and have to say that I love it. I really liked Vista and was not bothered by the issues many complained about, but Windows 7 addresses those concerns and adds some cool new features. Look for a review in the next few months.

Digital Anarchy's July update includes the following items of note:

1. Get a free Photoshop action which will create cartoon bubbles on your images. Designed to accent their ToonIt 2.0 product, the tool is free and usable by anyone.

It creates simple ellipse and rectangular speech bubbles that can be any size. You can adjust colors, fonts, outline thickness, and position. It's a great way to make your ToonIt images start speaking.

You don't need to be an owner of ToonIt, anyone can download it free and use it. It works on Windows and Mac and any recent version of Photoshop.

http://digitalanarchy.com/register/register_bubble.php [MORE]

Kodak sends word of their newest Z-Series camera, the Z950, which will be available next month at $279.99 retail. The Z950 features 12MP resolution, 10x optical zoom with image stabilization, 3" LCD screen, up to ISO 3200, and SDHC capacity.

Also debuting is the new M-Series of cameras, with the initial models being the M381 and M341.

The M381 sports 5x optical zoom, 12MP sensor, 3" LCD, face-recognition and up to ISO 1600. The baby sister M341 has a 3x zoom, 12MP sensor and 2.7" LCD, They retail for $179 and $149 respectively and will be available in September 2009. [MORE]

Nikon today announced their newest profession level DSLR, the D300s. Featuring 12.3MP DX CMOS sensor, D-Movie HD Video capability, and up to seven frames per second shooting speed, the D300s is due August 2009 at a retail price of $1799.95 for the body only. [MORE]

Not to leave consumers behind, Nikon has also announced the new D3000 entry-level DSLR. It too is slated for release this August and features a 10.2MP sensor, guide-mode to help ease hobbyists into DSLR power, six scene modes. It's retail price is just under $600. [MORE]

Sure the iPhone takes photos, but then what? Photographer Kris Gebhardt turned lemons into lemonade when his camera malfunctioned on a photo shoot and he had to rely on his iPhone's camera to save the day.

"Like a phoenix out of the ashes, FotoMuse arose from what could have been a disastrous photo shoot," said photographer and fitness expert Kris Gebhardt, who developed the app in partnership with WebUrban LLC. When an unexpected camera jam threatened to ruin a photo shoot for his upcoming book, "GEBHARDT – Photography – Paintings – Fitness" (GCI Press, August 2010), Gebhardt thought he was out of options – until his iPhone caught his eye. "I realized that the only camera available was my iPhone, decided I had nothing to lose, and just went for it," he said.

The result is FotoMuse, on sale via the Apple App Store for $2.99.

The FotoMuse app enables users to import any photo from their iPhone album and transform it into a work of art in under 20 seconds. "People can crop, resize, and mix images with artifacts from old photos, vintage-edged film, and other media," Gebhardt said. "After adding contrast, selecting a border, and choosing a layer, it's easy to save the image – without actually changing the original photo.