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June 26, 2006 It's Coming. Soon, it seems. The DSLR: Nikon D200 eBook is a major new addition to the DSLR-series. It has taken MONTHS to extract all the techniques, secrets and lore embodied in this camera. To say that the D200 is deep would be an understatement. And the eBook brings out things you won't find in the Instruction manuals, you won't find them on the Internet, you won't read about them in anybody's reviews. Shooting for IMAX time-lapse? It's in there. How to shoot full circle Nikkor Fisheye images? It's in there. How to shoot practical infrared? It's in there. How to prep for professional printing techniques? In there. Assignments to pump you up? In there. How to switch among four completely different kinds of camera? In there. How to expand that to 16 types of camera operation? In there. Case in point: Click on the film frame above for news. And a free preview.
05 02 06 Updated Big Deal: As of right this instant you can buy a computer that runs Windows XP and Mac OS X --both at full speed-- in the same machine. [Exqueeze me, mister, but what does that have to do with digital photography? Oh, the digital part. I get it.] The Mac Mini seen here is the least expensive machine that does this. iMacs and MacBook Pro laptops do it, too. Click on the $600 computer to learn more. Scroll through our Editorial on Intel Maciintosh computers to see why Dell is chugging Tums. Update: 4 13 06: Bwaaahaaahaaahaahaaha! Turns out the Intel Macs are FASTER than other PCs! Go read about it.
March 6, 2006 Solved:
Every PMA is characterized by various accidental themes. Sometimes it's The Next Hot Dawg New Camera or You Ain't Gonna Believe This Lens or some such. This year it was We Got You Covered In Post. Without coordination between the contributing elements, the delicious news clumped around things to make your editing sweeter, bigger, neater and more refined. Click on the huey for details.
February 21, 2006 Canon has a new camera. Almost. New, just in time to seem like it's a Big Thing for PMA--which starts in a few days--the Canon 30D DSLR. Same size, same quality image as the 20D/350D, and even the EOS-1D Mark II N, and the same 5 fps continuous mode of the 20D, it's got a handful of nice new features, and even a nice, slightly lower price. If you were thinking of getting a 20D, get this one instead. Think of it as an EOS 20D Mark II. Read about its bigger, more detailed monitor screen, Picture Style presets, virtually identical menu system, slight body restyling, ISO increments, Spot Meter, smoother shutter release, direct printing button, selectable 3fps/5fps continuous mode and three new menu languages for those who need Chinese, Korean and Russian. Oh yeah, it weighs a few grams more and is 2mm smaller in height. ...and they brought out a 17-55mm f/2.8 IS zoom. As seen here, it looks very handsome with the 85mm f/1.2 on board. Click on the camera for details.
* Big Honking Lens! A lot of people want one of these. Read the inside story on the Nikkor 18-200mm DX VRII lens and learn what all the hubbub is about. Click on the image for details.
Done. Available today. It's been out for over a year, though. Click on the cover and read the update page that reveals how the D70s and D70 are virtual clones. Hey, I've known a LOT of twins, and these two cameras are closer than any of them. Of course, if you got the D70s, you know that the monitor is bigger and that you have a couple of advantages over owners of the D70 (price / memory / slightly bigger battery capacity) but where's the line between them?
No sense spoiling your appetite by giving it all away here on the news page. It's about your professional gear, your next step and where technology is shoving you. Click on the image for details.
1/11/06: Nikon announces the inevitable, first, beating the competitors to the punch bowl. Basically the message is: Better imaging through chemistry is a fool's errand. Or: When a better idea comes along, don't hold your breath waiting for the status quo to spout stem cells and regenerate golden memories of the way things were. Off topic? Moi? Translated into technobabble: If you want to capture electromagnetic phenomenon, use an electromagnetic phenomenon detector. A digital camera? Yeah, that's the ticket. It makes better bizniz sense, sez Nikon. Can we come up with more metaphors, similes, and topical approaches to this? Sure, but here's the skinny. Nikon is abandoning film and the lens production that is associated with film's use and possible future. So long, large format film lenses, enlarger lenses and pro film gear, except for the 35mm top of the line F6 and bottom of the barrel FM10 bodies. Stay tuned for similar announcements from Canon, Fuji, Kodak, Leica, Hasselblad and any other film camera maker. Reports of people awakening this morning crying "I have a dream: to capture pictures with silver salts and use smelly chemicals to see the results in an hour! I gotta get me a FILM camera!" --are greatly exaggerated. Click the pic for the horse's mouth.
Let's take this puppy out into the real world and see what it can do. There's always something interesing to see at the LA Auto Show, and then, there are the cars. Click on the pic.
The JITFTH* arrival of the Nikon D200 prompts some first impressions... When the Nikon D70 appeared, it was the hottest thing alive in a reasonably priced DSLR. The body alone was a grand (US list) and it aced all the other sub-two grand cameras of that day. Oddly, the calendar seems to have marched forth (not to be confused with the calendar date of March 4th) and time has delivered the newest Nikon into the world. This time with a 10.2 MP chip, metal all over and a screen that screams. No it's not as low cost as the D70, but oh, baby! Click on the camera to see our evolving first impressions page. *JITFTH; Just in time for the holidays.
Rock n ROLL! Now it can be told. And sold. Here's something new from the DSLR: Canon 20D eBook: The iNovaFX Photoshop Action that made this image is yours on the eBook CD along with over 520 other iNovaFX PS Actions. It's the latest variation that takes 16 images and arranges them exactly like this. You provide the background color. It's called iMulti16VTwistRR (RR for Rock n Roll) and a special version makes it PS CS2 friendly. Wha? If you don't know about these, here's the skinny: In full Photoshop, you bring in 16 images and press the button. About one minute later, you're staring at a printable page that looks like this. A4 and US Letter paper friendly. What took us so long with the 20D eBook? We had to add some last minute items and issues. Among them Apple Aperture, and possibly the most colorful, intense Digital Gallery ever. Some images from the above collection (Rock Group Powder by rock photographer, Snook) show up there in interactive form. And you will be very pleased to see what other photographer shows up with a 20D in her hand. Click on the images above for an immediate clue... If you know someone with a 20D... (yourself, perhaps) here's your Christmas present.
Nikon Drops Shoe #200. Pixels On The March. Part 26B. Nikon shows off the D200 DSLR. 10.2MP with 3872 x 2592 pixel DX image. (1.5x magnification factor) Price? Around $1700, list, for the body. I'm thinking; $1,550, street. Accessories? A new 18-200mm VR stabilized super lens. $700-ish Implications? More, better, good, yessss. Click on image for link to Frame Wars page. *But then again, what do I know. It's out. It's here and we are already well into writing the eBook about it.
The eBook delivers November 15ish. Hey, iNova, you getting fast or what?
What's inside?
"The ergonomics and operational speed of this camera is its forte. Not even the bigger, far more expensive Canons swing into action and out-shoot the 20D. "As with the Rebel XT, four camera setups lurk within. These are explored in detail, too." What are the stats?
"The 20D Operations chapter is 136 pages." It costs more due to oil prices, right?
Click on the camera for the order page. Click here for the 20D eBook Report.
Here's the best accessory for your XT The eBook is ready, now! Q and A: Hey, iNova, what took you so long?
What's inside?
"As with prior works, you encounter problems with solutions, take a uniquely digital photography course, learn a lot about printing, special effects and image improvement before and after the shutter is pressed. You'll get more out of a camera that has a huge inventory of features, options and tricks to show you. "You even learn about the other three cameras lurking inside your Rebel XT." What are the stats?
"The Rebel XT Essentials chapter alone is 130 pages." It costs more due to oil prices, right?
Click on the camera for the order page. Click here for the 350D eBook Report.
Mysteries Revealed! Summer of Hot Topics NOW! the DSLR: Canon Digital Rebel XT has joined the shelf. Virtually every idea in its Camera Operations chapter is new, because that's the way this camera operates. In fact, it's four cameras, each with a novel approach to controls, functions and features. We doubt if one in ten owners know that there are three fully functioning "other" cameras under its hood, but after looking at this feature three extra times, the DSLR:Canon Digital Rebel XT EOS 350D eBook will pull the veil of mystery off this exceptionally capable camera. Big time. With this new eBook, the page count has passed 530. The price remains the same. Note that each page is a full 8.5 x 11 inch print out (print what you need). But embedded in the eBook are interactive examples, movies and animations. Of course, those don't make it to ink, but they do make it into your photo memory bank.
Hot Sigma Fish! Summer of Hot Optics Again Fisheye lenses are one of the most fun things you can do with a camera short of shooting respectable images of your favorite spec. Whatever that means. Curvilinear has its own appeal. Something in us must resonate with these images because we have so much fun with them. Sigma's 8mm f/4 fisheye turns out to have a hidden talent that even Sigma never knew, but which we have revealed in a striking manner. It's so cool we've invented a whole new term for it. Click on the lens to find out what's new in Optical Sushi!
Hot Sigma Lens! Summer of Hot Optics Continues. Greatness comes in a variety of forms. When performance, package and price team up to deliver the goods for far less than buckets of blood, sweat and cash, that G word starts whispering in the back of one's head. And after playing with this lens for a number of weeks, I was real surprised to find out its wonderful little secret. Now you can seek that secret, too. Click the image for the report.
Hot Canon Lens! Stop dreaming. Start saving up. This is IT. This is the wide angle Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 EF-S lens for your Rebels and 20D that will leave every architect drooling. Stand in the corner of a room, plaza, cathedral or linen closet, and the whole place is in the shot. If you point it down, you had better have polished your shoes. The 10mm wide setting is gracefully wide with an absolute minimum of barrel distortion. Read our report on the lens over in the Canon Department where all the Big Guns seem to be collecting these days. Just click on the lens.
2005 Shootout! Dubrovnik! Corfu! Venice! Lake Como! Korcula! Split! Wherefore digital? Over here, over there. Several thousand images and a bunch of High Def video awaits our shutter release fingers as we head out to test a selection of cameras under the real world conditions of the actual real world. This time we head off to Italy, Greece and Croatia by air, train, car and boat to find walled cities, sinking cities, ancient cities, beauty spots and random events in abundance. Local residents have been alerted and have been practicing "looking natural" for our candid lens. Cameras and lenses from Canon, Nikon, Sigma and Sony are along for the ride and this year, video joins the fray. The frame above is from the Sony Z1 HDV camera that will be aboard. It's the same device discussed a few stories down, but the real story is to see how today's gear behaves when the pictures they save came from electronic waves. Results of the 2005 Digital Camera Shootout will be on these pages in
Here It Comes! Oops! Sorry. It's already HERE!
The eBook for Canon's amazing Digital Rebel EOS 300D Kiss Digital--depending on what this camera is called in your part of the world. New for the camera that has taken the world by storm--iNova & Steinmueller's custom edition of the eBook that has earned accolades from every corner of the word. DSLR: Canon Digital Rebel is being shown at PMA this month and will be ready for your orders in early March on this site. The eBook's 485 pages in 14 chapters include completely revised and expanded concepts, lore, secrets and more from Peter iNova and Uwe Steinmueller with extra rich information on Canon's RAW format provided in Volume 2 by Uwe. Compared to prior eBooks, this one has greater depth in shooting techniques, photographic problem solving and digital darkrooming. An enormous number of images are interactive as movies, A/B comparisons and A/B/C examples right on the face of the PDF pages. They even scale so you can see detail huge on your screen. As with eBooks of the past, included with it is the latest iteration of iNovaFX Photoshop Actions for PS 6, 7 and CS--many customized to the requirements of Canon EOS Digital Rebel requirements and optics. Over 450 Actions at last count. No sense letting the fabulous EOS 300D image quality go unexploited. A huge section on lenses shows you what you may expect. And let's just say that that section is not what you expect! New in this title are 20 pages of iNovaFX Photoshop ELEMENTS techniques you can perform with the software that came in the box with the camera. You will be taking better pictures and getting more out of your Digital Rebel with this eBook under your belt. And you will know why they're coming out better, too. DSLR: Canon Digital Rebel. $49.95 direct and through major photo stores and Internet links all over the Web. Special for prior eBook owners: Contact the publisher directly and have your previous eBook CD handy when you call. By being a loyal customer, you can save 20% through a direct eMail or Phone contact. The number to call in Los Angeles is (310) 475 2988. Email here.
The Year of High Def 1/19/05 Apple computer has named 2005 The Year Of High Definition, meaning television at all levels from professional right down to pocket camcorder size will join a much higher resolution basis.
Any digital camera over 3 MP (2048 x 1536 pixel images) is already a candidate for time-lapse animation gatherer. Especially those cameras that form an image this size from an even larger native CCD or CMOS image chip. Take the versatile Nikon Coolpixes from the CP5000 on up. Most can be triggered to collect images in very long strings by using an external "intervalometer" or timed trigger device that can be set to collect one shot per second or one every hour. The DigiSnap 2000 series comes to mind as the appropriate solution, as long as it is fitted with a remote cable suitable to your camera. Known Time-Lapse Candidates: CP 990, 7500, 4500, 5000, 5700, 5400, 5800 and any Coolpix that can use Nikon's own remote trigger, the RC-EU1. Images from any of these cameras are stunning, and from larger 5 MP cameras on up, they can aspire to IMAX quality. Not kidding! No fooling. (Side note: IMAX 3D frames are rendered out at 2048 pixels wide, and the current Polar Express 3D has shown how wow that size frame can be.) Check with Harbortronics for potential lash ups to your compact digitals. Chances are that anything remotable can become a time-lapse camera. When Apple's QuickTime transitions to V.7.0 later this spring (update, May: It's Heeere!), a bit of software help will fall into the world that makes HD a Major Factor. It's a codec to handle the highly detailed images at home computer data rates. Called H.264 it is actually in release right now, quietly revolutionizing the media world in editing programs. Apple's own iMovie, Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express editing programs are HD compatible and available now. But only Sony's HDR-FX1 is a $3,500 ($3,150 street), 3-chip "consumer" HD camera followed closely by their more expensive (but nominally so) professional HVR-Z1U (above) multi-standard camera, allows HD top quality image gathering at HD peak image standards. Both record on DV tapes making the new format "HDV". Getting married this summer? Find a wedding videographer with the high def gear, or put it off a year--it's that near. The president of Sony has chimed in with promised HD cameras down to pocket size. They've been angling toward this destination for the last two years. All those DV/Still cameras? If you have a 2+ MP image chip behind your DV camera's lens, it just BEGS to become an HD camera, doesn't it? Now that new codec, chip set and HDV format will make it so.
What about all the other cameras? Not to worry, they'll get there. Future pocket cams will likely shoot their movie modes in HD. I would NOT be surprised to see cameras the size of the Coolpix 7900 with HD 24 fps movie mode in the next thousand days. In fact, I'd rather bank on it.  e The DSLR: Nikon D70 eBook is our own eBook of the year! In the last six weeks it has become our most popular title ever, and since that includes this year, hence the headline. Reviews are pouring in from readers literally all over the world. Catch this one from Imaging Resource. Whew, be still my heart! If you want one as a Holiday gift (get your D70 it's own eBook) we recommend ordering early and avoiding the next avalanche. Camera OTY! Popular Photography has made a finding. The Nikon D70 is the Camera Of The Year. How convenient. To Quote the source: 'The Nikon D70 was precisely the camera that the photography world needed this year. 'A revolution began in 2003 with the Canon EOS Digital Rebel-its $899 sticker, its 6.3-megapixel sensor, and its attitude of "Everybody into the digital SLR pool; the water's fine!"' --The editors of Popular Photography Well. They're only right. Two years in a row the two top photography-shaking cameras were the lower cost dSLRs. A coming title in the DSLR: -series will complete the thought. DSLR: Digital Rebel is coming soon! Image courtesy of Popular Photography
Orders for the DSLR eBook have been HUGE! They all tumbled out the door in record time. Our avalanche of initial orders has been melted down to a manageable size. Order today for immediate delivery.  Here IT IS!The D70 eBook is for sale. 438 8.5 x 11 pages. Astounding secrets you will find nowhere else. 1100+ images, many interactive and animated. All viewable up to 400% scale on your computer screen. This is likely the greatest accessory you could buy for your D70. Available now. Click the eBook on the right for more info. Click the one on the left for contents. Click on this for the secure order page. You also receive 466 original iNovaFX Photoshop Actions, 142 of them are exclusive to the D70, designed for its images, its lenses and its unique needs, including the Hyper wide-angle 10.5mm fisheye flattening action seen in the story below. Plus Photoshop and RAW instruction from Uwe Steinmueller--King of RAW image info and techniques.
Special deal for prior eBook owners? Yes. Save 20%. Contact the publisher directly and have your original eBook serial number handy. Voice: (310)475 2988 (M-F 9-5 Pacific Time), FAX: (310) 475 9486, email here .
August 11, 2004 I should have been a Pisces because I have a great deal of fun with fisheye lenses. Instead I ended up being a Taurus attraction. But I digress... The Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm DX lens is a very sweet optic, but during testing and photography for the new Nikon D70 dSLR eBook, it quickly became obvious that this little puppy was capable of some plus extra achievement. Are your socks on tight? Read the overview, then see how this lens breaks all prior existing rules and brings a brand new kind of photograph into its owner's hands. Click the lens to see our preliminary images and hosiery-removing results. 8 4 04
July 29 2004 You've seen what others have had to say about the D70. They like it. So do I. Probably more than most since I've been pushing it to every limit I can think of, and it keeps coming back more than just a winner. The D70 is a system camera with a HUGE number of bonus points under its skin. Are there demerits? Aren't there always? Inseparable from my review of the camera, which is available here, is my production of "dSLR, the Nikon D70 eBook" produced in part with Uwe Steinmueller. That eBook will appear in September, just in time for Photokina, but the major work on it is finished to the 90% level today. Today you get the review. Eventually you will see the eBook. Click on the book cover for the eBook announcement detail page.
*Providing you lucky Canadians purchase a Sony DSC-F717, DSC-V1 or DSC-F828 sometime this summer! Every purchaser of these cameras in Canada who buy their camera in the Sony stores gets a brand spanking new copy of The Sony Advanced Cyber-shot eBook by Peter iNova. Version 2.0 of the Sony eBook was released March, 2004 featuring detailed assistance for the 7x7, V1 and 828 Cyber-shot cameras. Sony of Canada decided they would be just the thing for every purchaser to have, what with their ability to make the cameras more valuable in the hands of their users, so a truckload of eBooks headed North. From June 1 through September 30, every one of these cameras come WITH the eBook. Looks like the Canadian Cyber-shotsters are going to have the edge. And the best part is that the eBooks come with the camera at no additional cost. Sweet, eh?
June 16 2004 Remember that sweet, versatile, lightweight camera that walked off with last October's big award as Miss Congeniality and oh, by the way, Ms Europe Shootout? She's back with a new act. The Nikon CP5400 accepts a firmware upgrade to Version 1.4 adding the ability to shoot full frame RAW images in the Nikon NEF format. And to think, I knew her when she was just a kid filled with talent and promise. Now she's all grown up but has kept her youthful figure. The firmware upgrade doesn't weigh a thing but suddenly the camera is "heavier." Best of all, it's free. Just Nikon's way of keeping you ahead of the ever expanding curve of technology. Learn more from Nikon's own download page here.
June 6 2004 Let's go visit China. Let's take a bunch of cameras along to see how they do. Let's come back with lots of shots and sift through them for the views and understandings of how travel photography works with some of the year's latest gear. In fact today's cameras have produced a Great Leap Forward. A Cultural Revolution of sorts in the ability to acquire and travel with equipment that gets out of your way.
All within seconds. Click the picture or the iNova Chop to jump to the very large article that goes where only a billion or so have gone before.
May 25, 2004 Something wicked tiny this way comes. It's big and it's small at the same time and it claims to be a Nikon. It claims that it can shoot 38 pictures without ANY media card on board, but that turns out to be a lie. But a good lie. You'll see. The Coolpix 5200 impressed me at PMA, but what does it do for me in the flesh--er--metal? Click the pic and see what all the recitement* is all about. Did I mention it was pocket size? * things that are spoken of.
May 19, 2004 Not a road race, not the length of the Great Wall, it's the number of frames captured on the trip. All these frames were inhaled through four different cameras this trip, and the whole notion of China has forever changed in my head. What a great bunch of folks inhabit that land, and they LOVE to pose for pictures.
With the introduction of the Digital Rebel, the appearance of Olympus' E-1 and the Nikon D70, the rules of photographic engagement have changed. Then there is the evolution of compact digital cameras into the 8-megapixel zone. What does it all mean?
Come back soon to experience the exciting conclusions.
May 19, 2004 Phil Askey really likes the Olympus C-8080 (see his review at DPReview.com)and I don't. Huh? We all know that he really, really understands what he writes about, so where's the beef? Or has my brain just turned to hamburger? Read my decidedly biased Olympus C-8080 review and see for yourself. Click here.
April 26, 2004 Every year we pack up a bunch of cameras and head into the depths of a new and interesting photogenic location. This year's trip starts in two days. You may remember Italy and Europe from past years? Just to see which camera gets the greatest number of interesting pictures under completely unpredictable conditions. This year, it's Beijing, the Great Wall, May Day Celebration and a slow boat down the Yangtze River in search of the three gorgeous gorges. Hopefully our view of the pagoda is as much fun as this one. The girls pictured here are waving their hands in an attempt to generate enough wind for the annual kite festival, or some such. Check back here at the end of May for the results. We're traveling with two whole dSLR kits, multiple lenses, a compact 8-megger and last year's winner. Hold that pose, ladies, we'll be there in a moment!
April 21, 2004
Or, as we call it around here, the Festival of eBooks. Whazzat? Every year the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books, Saturday April 24 on the UCLA campus is a big deal in Los Angeles, and on that date from open to close (10 AM to 4 PM) author Peter iNova will be on hand for eBook signing, Q&A and Segway HT demo rides (one for sure with every copy of Segway Secrets sold). Look for the Graphics Management Press booth #435 in front (slightly east) of Royce Hall (just ask anybody). And the special eDeal? A special price at the show only for live purchase of the Sony or Nikon eBooks @ 20% off! -----
April 16, 2004
Canon has begun selling the domestic (Japanese) version of the 300D Digital Rebel in basic Black. Which is, after all, beautiful. Canon's Pro1, an eight megger in a tiny package brings Canon compact fans a new target of affection. Read about it here (updated). Nikon has announced a new price for the award-winning CP5400. Now just $599US (formerly MSRP of $796.29). Olympus has sent us an E-1 dSLR for review. Nice.
The SONY Has Landed! SONY's hot 828 and visually stunning V1 are the twin subjects added to the Sony eBook, now shipping with Version 2.0.
Plus a whole new world of interactivity! Roll your mouse over indicated images and you get instant A/B/C comparisons that animate the explanations. There are even movies embedded in the PDF pages!
New in Version 2 are an expanded Cyber-shot Gallery, fresh interactive URL links in the Appendix, custom iNovaFX Actions for the V1 and 828, Tutorial Actions, new filters and much more. Order it here, or click the image. Owners of the Sony eBook Version 1.0 can upgrade for low cost. You'll need to supply the serial number from your original CD, but upgrade disks are only $15 including shipping anywhere in the world.
February 14, 2004
Everybody has one. And they all look good. Whazzis? EIGHT megapixel cameras! Canon / Minolta / Olympus and of course Nikon (see below) showed their eight meggers at PMA, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. We hope to have a comprehensive report on the whole group in late April from a user perspective. Each has its strong points, like Minolta's easy-attach 0.8X and 1.5X add-on optics plus built-in anti-shake. All of these cameras use the Sony 8-megapixel RGB chip and shutter speed times are FAST! And as a group, they're all close to the same size. Nikon and Canon models have fully flip-out monitors, while the Olympus and Minolta models have variations on tip up/tip down monitors. Canon, Olympus and Minolta start their zooms at a 28 mm (equivalent) wide setting. What are the images like? We shall see.
Nikon's new 5200/4200. Nice. Sweet, even. So small it fits your shirt pocket and it even re-processes red eye out of "impossible" pictures. This is a tiny, no-excuses camera with a slew of desirable features. It looks like a killer vacation camera. More about it when we get our mitts on one.
Super flat Kyocera SL300R goes Leather! Fetishists will like the leather accent on the Contax-branded version along with the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens and faster internal processor that make the improved model worth the extra dollars (500 vs. 400). Kodak's new, greatly improved full-frame DCS Pro-SLR/n gives the DCS Pro 14n an upgrade path.
-New chip, new software, new features and you didn't have to buy a whole new body! The pictures? To die for. FULL FRAME @ 4536 x 3024 pixels! Kodak is showing how dead serious they are about digital photography with this body. (They know that without being serious about digital photography, they're dead...) Getting to play with one at the booth was an exercise in patience. Pentax's latest flat-cam, the S4i, now shoots 4 megapixels. Last year it was spotted inside an Altoids tin, and this year it was spotted in many shirt pockets. Tiny cameras were all over the show. It's a trend. Look for our Springtime review of all the ultra portables.
January 28, 2004 Happy New Gear! Nikon jumps forward with two very capable new cameras, one to bring the Coolpix compact digital line into the 8-megapixel realm with the CP8700, an improved version of the CP5700 with a larger (1.8 inch) external transflective monitor, a more finely detailed EVF image (280,000 pixels!) and a focus assist light plus a much improved menu graphic display presentation. I handled the prototype recently and was very pleased with the night focus ability in a dark restaurant. Image quality promises to be significantly lower in noise than the Sony 828 but just as finely detailed. A hands-on report will bring details here, soon. Nikon also announced the D70 (the big one), a budget priced, but not budget built, 6-megapixel dSLR body and a new AF-S DX 18-70mm G IF-ED f/3.5-4.5 Nikkor zoom lens that sell for a comfy $1299 ($1000 for the body only, give or take a buck.) The body is filled with advanced technology including a continuous image buffer for fast motor drive sequences up to 144 (!) shots. The new lens is solid. A fine piece of engineering at a great price, it doesn't cut manufacturing corners by being built primarily of plastic. The new body is similarly high quality and durable. The new Nikons set the bar a notch higher in the rapidly evolving field of digital photography. Stay tuned.
January 5, 2004
Version 6.0 of the Nikon eBook, "Mastering Nikon™ Compact Digital Cameras" has iNovaFX Photoshop Action Filters never seen before. Some were added so close to the deadline that word of them didn't even make it into print. Want to know how they work and what they do? Read on... Ever want to tint an image just a smidge? The way you would have if you shot (or corrected in printing) an image by a small CC-filter equivalent? With a film darkroom, the addition of a CC20 tint is a common correction, but in the digital darkroom how do you blush your shot with a small but precise increment like this? Check out the NEW INOVAFX V6 page to get the low down on the new iPAFs*. *iNovaFX Photoshop Action Filters.
Version 6.0 of the Nikon eBook, "Mastering Nikon™ Compact Digital Cameras" has been released. Winning Camera, Championship Optics. Too small, right? That little 5400 can't be all Nikon claims it to be, right? It couldn't possibly do all that iNova says it can do, right? Guess again, shutter finger, this camera packs more into a small place than you (or I) ever believed could be accomplished.
Version 6.0--over 500 pages deep! With new iNovaFX Photoshop Actions to improve, enhance, correct and refine your images--420 in all, including the new iFish series, iVignette series, iDots graphic series and of course new iBC5.4K barrel correction Actions for the CP5400 plus iCC5.4k color correction actions that whisk away your most egregious color white balance errors. Click on the package to find out more.
Here Come the Fish! New optics refined Fish! It's not the command to take another card, but the 180 degree wide angle converters that have graced the Coolpix line since the early days. FC-E9 Fisheye in House! Nikon originally brought us the FC-E8 Fisheye converter and made a lot of us happy. What a lens. But it only fits on the 28mm, split-body cameras (well, okay, it adapts to the CP5000) leaving the CP5700 and CP5400 in the dust. Until now. We crawled all over the new Walt Disney Concert Hall with the FC-E9 married to the CP5400. Holy Cow! The building already looks like they passed the plans through a fisheye lens to start with, so it turned out to be a marriage made in heaven. Especially when the images were passed through the new iBC54-E9 iNovaFX Photoshop Action Filter that cleans up the corners of the shots. Click the image for the report.
eBook Upgrade Update! New cameras , new optics, new debut times. Change! It's the only thing that is constant. But you're going to like the results. The Nikon V6.0 eBook will now deliver in early December and the Sony V2.0 eBook will debut in January. Why the delays? Time. It has not been on my side. (Or Sony's, it would seem.) ALL ORDERS FOR BOTH OF THESE SINCE AUGUST GET THE UPGRADE FREE! We already have your mailing labels filled out! The CP5400 turned out to be worthy of even more scrutiny than I thought. It's a very deep instrument, indeed. The chapter on it is 40 pages long and fat-free. The delayed introduction of the Sony DSC-F828 has, of course, slowed down the production process of that camera's appearance in the V2.0 Sony eBook. Still, all orders placed now will receive the Upgrades for free. If you have a stocking that needs stuffed, the Nikon eBook will be there in time and the Sony original eBook will be in hand immediately with the Upgrade to follow close behind the holidays. Orders placed here receive Upgrades completely automatically to the same shipping address.
 Premise: Haul a bunch of digital cameras into new territory. Determine which was the most useful, hassled least and achieved the most pleasing images. Now the results are in. Above: The Rhine's sharpest turn. Is that one picture, or six? Surprise! With six candidates from the Nikon/Sony camp of cameras, three of them passed the bar and three did not. The ones that got the highest marks achieved their success from combinations of image quality, "vacation ergonomics", special features and performance under pleasure. Read the whole story to see which model camera's won iNova's heart. These may not be your fave, but they generated the most valuable response to me: confidence when I packed them into a days's vacation wanderings. Click Here for the story.
Major eBook Updates! Version 6 of the Nikon eBook and Version 2 of the Sony eBook are coming to a computer near you! The Nikon Compact Digital Cameras eBook V.6.0 will deliver in October adding the CP5400 and its optical converter lenses, including Nikon's new 5MP Fisheye lens. The Sony eBook V.2.0 expands to cover the DSC-V1 and DSC-F828 cameras, plus all the new Optical Converters, and it delivers in November. No Waiting! You can buy or upgrade either one of these today and get everything currently available, then receive the entire replacement disk AUTOMATICALLY (when purchased through this site) for no additional cost when the updates begin shipping. This applies to all purchases --even Nikon V.5.0 Upgrades-- made from today onward. PLUS: As with the previous eMail updates, all purchasers of the Nikon or Sony eBooks made on or after August 1 can receive a lower resolution eMail edition of the new chapter by request. Bookmark this page. Requests will be gathered starting October 1, 2003.
Big Photon
Part II! Who cares about the Shootout? This is the big news. Sony decided to drop the shoe a day early and what a shoe. This is the DSC-F828, the camera you will save your nickles and dimes for. No, the image is not a flash shot made at the moment of impact--it's a shot made to let you see the innards of the world's first 8-megapixel compact digital camera. Tantalizing spects: RGB+E chip, 7:1 zoom. F/2. At $1200 (in November), it delivers so many new features, ideas, technologies and sheer picture power that you need to click on the image to read about it over on the itsSony Breaking News page. Don't stand there trying to figure out the picture, CLICK! Just do it.
August 15, 2003,
Burbank Shootout! The second anual Digital Road Trip and Vacation Shootout is coming. With new models of digicams from several manufacturers, the iNova team heads into unpredictable image gathering territory searching for the elusive shot. Which camera will rise to the top of the heap? Only experience will tell. The last time this shootout was held, the Sony DSC-F707 won the top award. It's long lens and immaculate 5 MP images (right, shot from the top of the Colosseum) brought home more successful and easily captured pictures than the others. Handiness awards went to several Nikon cameras with a disproportionate amount of coverage centering on the small two-megapixel Coolpix 775. For sheer wide angle coverage, the CP5000+WCE68 copped that prize. None of the prior cameras will be along on this ride, however. It's a new ball game. (No it's not. It's a new shooting match.) Now there are more compact cameras in the mix including the near-compact Coolpix 5400 and slightly above compact Sony DSC-V1. The big question at this hour has to do with the 8-ball. Results will be posted here in early October.
Big Photon. Years ago I predicted the collision point at which digital photography head-butted 35mm photography in an image version of the Touring Test. That's the test which describes computers becoming indistinguishable from a human responding to your typewritten correspondences. In the photographic variation, its the point at which a digital image is indistinguishable from a 35mm film image. To do that, the number of image details would have to approach the theoretical resolving power of typical 35mm color films, which is itself immensely arguable. At 50 line pairs/mm a 35mm transparency suggests around 2400 pixels of image in the narrow dimension of the frame. So what would a hypothetical 35mm-breaker chip have to have in order to stand a chance against the 35mm shooter? Somewhere around 2400 x 3200 pixels for a 3:4 aspect image. Huh. The prediction pegged the crossover event at some time in 2003. Huh, again. And what big thing is Sony cooking up now? Stay tuned.
Nikon 5400: Best Yet? Smaller than a Coolpix 5000 but just as wide, the new Nikon CP5400 has a 4:1, 28-112 mm zoom (35mm equivalent), 15 scene modes, VGA size movies, rear-curtain flash sync, reworked menus, time lapse movies, multi-flash (true strobe effect), great "motor drive" continuous modes, flip out screen and an optical viewfinder that was designed for the 4500. How's that? Read on. Read the evolving review starting today here.
July 11, 2003, Glendale SONY Style Bogus eMail!? People are being urged urged by eMail to provide sensitive information to a look-alike site that falsely claims to be the right place to leave your SonyStyle username, password and email address. A fishing expedition to hook SonyStyle participants in potential Identity theft? Read the note: (of course, if it were to prove false, then what?)
I'm being a tad cagey about publishing the return address because it bears little resemblance to the rest of Sony's own addresses coming from a mass eMail distribution server, not a return address active source. It may in fact be a bogus "alert" that is geared to getting you to respond to it inappropriately. We can't even trust our warnings these days, because they also may be false, misleading or dangerous to respond to. If it is real, then they've shot themselves in the "credibility foot" by having it arrive from a suspicious-looking source.
June 19, 2003, Glendale SONY V1 Shipping! And we are putting ours through the review mill even as I type. Sony's new 5.0 megapixel DSC-V1 is perhaps the most feature-packed Advanced Cyber shot Sony DigiCam yet. It's SMALL, a chunk of silver metal that looks like it was sculpted out of a 60 x 70 x 100 mm brick of aluminum (2.25 x 2.75 x 4 inches) that will easily fit in a coat pocket. Just don't put it in there with your keys or a handful of change. Speaking of a handful of change, for those who know the Sony feature set, this one adds a few new things including control over Sharpening, Chroma and Contrast. The imager is the new 1/1.8-inch 5.1-megapixel chip that makes 2592 x 1944 shots, up a micro-slice from prior 2/3-inch 5-megapixel chips which have 2560 x 1920 sensors. How does it compare? We will soon find out. This model combines standard "range finder format" shape and screen placement with a 4:1 Zeiss, f/2.8-4 lens equivalent to 34-136 mm optics on a standard 35mm camera. An optical viewfinder allows direct viewing. Some features have new names. Digital zoom is now "Smart Zoom," movie capture (full video VGA size @ 16fps) is now "MPEG-VX." Our photographer-based review (meaning how does it work for the photographer rather than how do the numbers sift out) is being churned now. So far the camera is intriguing and the pictures look great. Stay tuned.
June 13, 2003, Glendale
At last, a pixel for everybody in New York City! Sony makes the chips for Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Casio, Pentax and most small digital cameras. But Sony knows that small is relative. Small is growing larger every day, the smaller it gets. Why, in digital photography, Small is BIG! Lemme 'splain: As individual
sensors shrink, the chip they're fabricated onto doesn't, necessarily.
But Sony does manage to pack more and more sensors into every
square millimeter of space. The new Nikon 5400, Canon G5 and
Sony V1 cameras all use the same 5-megapixel imager, But what if instead of just smaller, the chip simply had more as well? That's what Sony's new 8-megapixel ICX456AQF imager does. It's the same size package as their 5-meg ICX28AQF image chip found in the existing 2/3-inch cameras, but this one has 3328 x 2496 sensors for an image 30% larger than the previous chip. It's similar to the scale of improvement from the 3.14 megapixel to 5-megapixel chips, as far as detail count is concerned. Shown here, 3.14/5/8 meg pixel counts (assumes same size pixels). Sources within Sony hint at dynamic range improvements, too. We hope so. As digital camera mogul Phil Askey notes, that's a better place to spend your improvements than sheer pixel population.
Nikon's
Pocket No sense keeping this under any more wraps, the CP5400 is heading for summer! It's Nikon's newest 5.1-Megapixel camera and who-ee! does it have something to say:
This could be the last camera you ever buy. Well, who knows? A |
Growing monitor pixel counts, faster computers, better compression codecs and less expensive memory all gather around the campfire to make it possible. In fact, some of the gear you already have in hand makes HD possible right now.
Update: The Z1, as everybody in Hollywood now calls it, is in hand and traveling with the cameras of the 2005 Digital Camera Shootout. See that story higher up the page.
InfoBites? Tons. The D70 Camera System Operations Chapter alone has well over 400. These are the 400+ ideas you wish someone had whispered in your ear as you shoot.
YO CANADA!
New Phases Department
Click Department
Special eDeal
March 30, 2004
Expanded to 322 pages with two new chapters on the V1 and 828, the eBook now contains 420+ iNovaFX Photoshop Actions, 900+ images, illustrations, tables and graphics.
The Year of the 8-ball!
More PMA
Get the 5200 with its larger pixel count and thank me later.
Yes, it's a $5K Nikon-based camera body, but if you bought the previous one, they'll upgrade it to the new configuration for just $1,500.
Hot Stuff Department
The
Version 6.0 Nikon eBook tells all. And reveals the secrets, special
techniques, hidden values and extra credit this small, wide angle
Coolpix has to offer. New interactive elements add to the spirit
of discovery. Roll your mouse over an image and find what lies
beneath. Or click on it and reveal even more. It's like the rollovers
on Internet pages, but you can't blow an Internet page up 400%
without enlarging the pixels
Wait
For It Department
Never Ending Series of Beeps Department
Department
but
it's a smaller chip (1/1.8") than the imager used in the
Nikon 5700 and Sony 717 (2/3"). More small means smaller
cameras and optics.