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2/7/2012

Actions CS5 eBook For Free!

The entire Actions CS5 eBook can now be downloaded at no cost!

There's gotta be a catch, right? You wouldn't give the entire eBook away for nothing, would you?

Well, yes, there's a catch. You get the eBook, and it even allows you to blow up the images to 200% so you can see the details in the images better.

But something is missing. The 700+ Photoshop Actions that are what the eBook is all about.

If you want those, they cost $25, plus shipping.

Click on the eBook cover, and we will give you the whole 284-page eBook for free. You can see how the Actions work on real photos. Then, if you want to apply the Actions to your own images, buy the full package.

Also, the full package includes a resolution-enhanced version of the eBook. One that lets you blow the images way up to see what's going on at 600% scale!

Tip: Download the link behind the cover image, then save that for reading in Adobe Reader.

3/17/11

SMOOTHEE MOVIES!

Coming Soon To A Computer In Front Of You!

We are in production on the Smoothee Video Operations Manual!

We have been hired by Tiffen to create a series of short videos showing how to set up and operate the Steadicam Smoothee.

Three videos will reveal Basic Operations, Tips and Tricks, and Advanced Techniques. You'll see Basic Balance and Super Balance. You'll see how the camera holder can be used for tripod shooting. You'll learn what Apps are best for movie shooting with your iPhone. You'll even learn how to fly right through an open window (do not attempt above ground level).

When the videos are available, clicking on this frame (from our opening title sequence) will take you right to them!

12/23/10

SMOOTHEE!

FINALLY! 

How about a Real Steadicam for an iPhone?

A lot of people have been building fairly remedial DIY "Steady Cams" for the iPhone, and who can blame them? The iPhone 4 HD image is better than you probably expect, and when it shoots smoothly, the results can be quite compelling.

But let's get serious. There is NOTHING like a real Steadicam. And here's one that hangs from your belt (optionally), weighs a single pound, is pre-balanced for instant success and works on the exacting real Steadicam principles.

For over a year the Steadicam Smoothee has been in development, and now it is shipping. $180 on Amazon.

Click on the Smoothee image to see the latest iPhone 4 video demo, shot on a near-production prototype.

I just received one of the final production units, and it's even better than the prototypes.

Best advice: Get in the queue at Amazon, today. We predict that the word "backorder" will soon be part of the Smoothee lexicon. I know they got a fairly large shipment of them just a few days ago.

Read THIS review to see how I really feel about it.

12/4/10 UPDATED 12/18/10

IT'S HERE!

EBOOK PLUS ACTIONS CS5. 

I wish it were possible to show you what this eBook is like on your computer...

WAIT! I CAN!

Click on the eBook cover and you will instantly be looking at a 40 69-page WHOLE THING as a full-size preview of the new Actions eBook in PDF format on your computer.

Way bigger than these sample thumbnails:

Now includes every page all pages of every chapter.

The one you buy is 284 pages, and it can be viewed up to 600% enlargement, but you'll get the idea from this file, even though it only tolerates about 200% enlargement on most pages.

A photography eBook should show you its images with maximum clarity. That's our opinion.

Now that the Actions eBook is iPad2-friendly, you can read it anywhere.

In the loo or Timbuktu.

Over 700 Actions at final count.

Nearly 60 of them are for movie files. Interactive links all over the place.

And you can NOT beat the price.

10/28/10

Actions Like No Others

This time, they're a moving experience. 

There's a new eBook coming out, and this time it has things never before seen in an eBook.

First, it's iPad-compatible. Downright friendly. You whisk through pages, tap to enlarge images to full screen, twist to enjoy vertical shots more fully, and you get to enlarge the images an unprecedented 600% in some cases. Viewing is WAY higher quality than the best printed book or magazine you've ever seen.

Next, a whole new collection of Photoshop CS5 MOVIE Actions greets you. Here is a completely original collection that turns your HDSLR movie clips into extraordinary still and movie special effects. Pan and scan panoramics. Slit scan photos. Motion picture special effects shots. Movie grading operations. Moving cross star effects. Movie grad filters. Movie fixes and tweaks...

The eBook is 284 pages deep with up to a dozen images per page. Available, November 20, 2010 at the iPad-friendly price of $25. Including software.

Check back soon. Click the image for more details.

4/28/10

iPad, youPad, we all Pad

Photo accessory? 

When Apple does something this fresh, this complete, this useful, does that mean it has a place in your photography kit?

Yes and yes. You may find reports from photographers who don't yet realize how that will work, but the promise of eBooks, iBooks, e-books and dynabooks has just taken a decidedly visual amplification through the iPad.

The iPad is such a good eBook display system that we have already tweaked our sister site, HDSLRreview.com, to become iPad friendly. It took a few tweaks, but now your iPad shows the site with clarity. This site should show it all with very minor compromises (looping movies lose the loop). Let me know if something displays wrong on your iPad.

Click the iPad for a more detailed report.

2/24/10

Micro-Steadicam Exclusive

The World's First Production using a Steadicam Smoothee! 

Because we shoot with a Steadicam Merlin (as HDSLR eBook readers know quite well), we got to work with Tiffen, commenting on some of their advanced products last year. One of those products is the Steadicam Smoothee, a half-pound Steadicam that works with our iPhone right out of the box.

The iPhone 3GS is a video recorder that performs video recording just about what you would expect from a Cell Phone. In other words, every owner thinks of their 3GS video as rubbish.

Why? Because you can never hold the %$#@! thing steady. So what do you suppose you get when you add, oh, I dunno—steadiness?

Click on the hand and find out.

1/2/10-1/6/10

Happy Bold New Year

Click the image to see what 2010 will bring! 

Digital photography has taken a major turn. DSLRs have grown an H. Now HDSLR cameras occupy the top product models of Canon, Nikon, Panasonic and Pentax. In 2010 three more brands will join in. New eBooks are planned.

Update 1.4.10: Samsung has joined the HDSLR party with a small first effort, the NX10. 720p30.

Advanced HDSLR Techniques will arrive in the coming months. It will feature specific tools, advanced production work processes, new "ScriptActions" (or will they be "ActionScripts?") for movie scenes and greater detail on the HDSLR phenomenon. If you have burning questions, now's the time to get them into the mix.

All over the world, HDSLR eBook owners are shooting better movies. New camera owners are pouring through page after page of interactive examples as they learn hidden attributes of their DSLR cameras. Graphic artists and professionals are employing the many iNovaFX Photoshop Actions to polish their images.

2010; A year to grow in.

12/25/09

Limited Time: Christmas FREEBIE! 

Twinkling lights. What more could you want? How about a free Photoshop Extended iNovaFX Action to add cross star effects to your movie files?

Cross star effects AFTER shooting the movie? Sound improbable? Well, two days ago it would not be possible (as far as we know), but now you can add extra twinkle to those shots of Christmas lights.

It's only for Photoshop Extended, and joins the Actions in our HDSLR eBook (follow the article below), but only this one is available to all who read about it here from now until January 1, 2010.

Check out the special Christmas Cross Star page for details.

This offer has expired. HDSLR eBook owners can load the latest version through the HDSLR Secret Web Page (link on page 116 of the HDSLR eBook).

12/15/09

LET THE eMOVIE BEGIN! 

Our HDSLR eBook IS SHIPPING!

Shooting with an HDSLR is very different from shooting stills. Movie cameras are different from still cameras for very good reasons, so you need a different set of approaches, priorities, rules and accessories.

Here they are. Ready to plug into your shiny new camera/thought process. Quick now: What are the five elements every shot MUST have? The still photographer in you won't know, or understand them the way the cinematographer in you will. But the eBook lays them out and tells you how to recover from ones that were missed. And that's just the start.

It's got chapters on tech and tools and chapters on mental checklists, considerations for editing as you shoot and movie problem solving. Answering questions no still photographer ever even knew to ask. Here's more.

10/20/09

The Ante Has Been Upped! 

Wh... why, we were just talking about you--in the abstract, as it were, and suddenly, here you are!

The Canon EOS 1D Mark IV HDSLR has just been announced, and it includes all the things we could wish upon our tripods, both in still images and movies.

Gone, it seems, is the blind persuit of sheer pixel count. This one is a 16 megapixel imager that also shoots in a stealthy super-quality 12 megapixel mode which Canon isn't talking much about, but which will have d-tographers commenting on in profusion, once the thing delivers in December.

You heard it here, first.

It's impossible for Canon to have read our Killer App Essay before bringing this model out, but it sure feels like they did. It seems like their philiosophy of What-A-Camera-Is-These-Days is far more intellectually advanced than that of their main competitor Nikon, so it seems the pendulum has swung back across the equator once again. Of course we characterize anything that follows our own thinking as being intellectually superior, but I digress...

How does that competitive pendulum happen in real life? It appears that one company gets all up into its attic of preconceived notions, then the other company has an epiphany and does something amazing, then the first company wakes up and smells the coffee while the second company turns to stone for a while all comfy in its status quo. Back and forth, endlessly.

Anyhow, this new 1DM4 has very few stones unturned, but as we mentioned in the Essay, there is a huge range of next-generation improvements to be eventually accomplished. This camera is an appreciated, and logical, next step.

Read about our first impressions of this new unit by clicking on the camera image.

10/14/09

Killer App Essay! 

Rarely we feel the need to speak out.

It's not our job to hold the photographic equipment industry's feet to the fire, but sometimes a company does something so good and soooo stupid at the same time, we get the urge to purge.

When Canon introduced a Digital Rebel that shot 1080p20 movie files, we came close. Twenty frames per second? What WERE they smoking?

When Nikon introduced the D3s, it just got to be too much.

Click the giant InfoBite symbol to get an eye full.

10/14/09

I SO BIG! 

What costs five thousand two hundred dollars plus tax, and sees in the dark?

Give up? It's the new Nikon D2s 12.2 megapixel HDSLR that cranks up the game—and gain—into the ISO one hundred thousand range. Yep, 102,400 ISO. At that point you're shooting black cats in coal mines at midnight—and loving it.

This is Nikon's fourth HDSLR and what have they learned? For starters, not much. They've cleaned up the motion artifacts seen originally on the D90, but they are of a mind that says, "Movies are 24 fps and don't need anything above frames that are 1280 x 720 pixels, end of story." To which their product manager added, "Chuck you and the hopes you rode in on; eat spit and cry."

I cleaned that up.

The five thousand dollar good news is this: you CAN shoot its 720p24 movies at the elevated ISO settings, and that has to be where your career is headed, right? Click on the camera for more.

10/2/09

Movie Cam Squared! 

Question: What is it that everybody wants from their HDSLR?

Answer: It all. Even a built-in flash.

Now Canon has approached the HDSLR idea with a camera so full of joy and happiness that it will take your breath away for long periods of time.

I'm sorry, I must have been thinking of a mouthwash commercial.

Anyhow, it is a fresh of breath air. Or some such.

You could shoot a major motion picture with the images from this puppy. And I'd be willing to bet that someone is already planning to do just that.

We bought ours to serve as the premiere test bed for the upcoming eBook "HDSLR: 100 Things You Need To Know" which is in mid-production right now.

Click on the camera to be directed to our in-hand preview of the camera and its many moving experiences.

5/17/09

NOW! 

The HDSLR: Nikon™ D90 eBook is out! And just like the camera, it is filled with surprises, features and secrets that D90 photographers will find nowhere else.

The camera shoots stills at 12.2+ megapixels and captures movies as 1280 x 720 pixel HD files at 24 fps--the same frame rate in every Hollywood movie since 1924.

In order to combine these two very different tools in the same machine, Nikon had to tweak here, fudge there, adjust like so and make a few compromises.

But there's no reason you should let that slow you down. The eBook shows you how to un-tweak, un-fudge, re-adjust and get uncompromisingly good looking movies from the D90 by applying knowlege in place of the simple instructions found in the camera manual.

And of course the still camera mode is top drawer. It makes photos that will stand with the best of them, and the eBook shows you what every feature, menu item and camera control can do to add to your photographic prowess.

Click here to read all about it.

4/30/09

Movie Action! 

Got flicker? With some DSLR time-lapse setups, flicker may come to dominate your scene. Not any more.

A new set of iNovaFX Photoshop Extended Actions will come in handy to the lucky HDSLR cinematographers who can take advantage of them.

What's wrong with the time-lapse clip seen here?

Nothing. Until you see what the original looked like.

Aw, too bad. Ruined by a capture mistake. You can't use that one. Oh, well, back to the old drawing board. Re-shoot!

Or maybe not.

Click here to read all about it. Click on the movie to pause it.

4/15/09

Nikon D5K 

A-HA! Nikon bursts forth with a smaller, lower cost D90. Sort of.

Called the D5000, it's like a D-Movie version of the D60 with a 12MP still image and most of the same D-Movie modes found in the D90.

And lookit what that monitor is doing!

Face it. If Canon had produced this, it would becalled the D5Kix-S Mark XXIX in the USA and the D5000 in the rest of the world. Be glad that Nikon calls things by their One True Name all over the globe.

Click on the image for our first impressions and comparisons to the D90.

More later.

4/7/09

DSLR: Nikon D90 eBook a comin' 

Here it comes. The D90 eBook, pumped full of deep insights, numerous secrets and a ton of embedded interactive features.

Being a movie camera (not a video camera, really) as well as a pro-level still DSLR, the D90 was the first of the new trend in what I call the HDSLRs. HD with high def movie mode, and DSLR in the usual sense. It shoots 720p24 HD, a variation on 480p24 (640 pixels wide and 424 pixels tall, so would that be 424p24?) and 320 x 216 pixel email size movies, but clearly that 720p24 image is the big motivator.

For you who have one of these, it turns out that the HD part of the idea goes a whole lot farther than I gave it credit for when I first started shooting with it. So much for first impressions. So the whole movie notion has been expanded with an eye toward giving the D90 user the best possible second-hand experience with this mode. In other words, the eBook is going to show you a metric ton of options, feature expansions and possibilities that nobody else has revealed.

I thought the D90 eBook would be out in time for Christmas. Ha, ha, ha. Have you ever noticed that slim chance and fat chance mean the same thing?

We delayed production until a New Zealand photoshoot could be added to its pages, and that has made all the difference in the world. Now the eBook is filled with images and mini-movies from Kiwi land.

Click the cover for more...

2/20/09

New DSLR Wireless / Wired Accessories 

How Phottix are you? Click the pic for news.

Updated January 28 '09

What If... 

What if the economy fell into the bucket? (See "A penny saved is a drop in the bucket" on every TV channel on earth, these days.)

What if you just got a D300 and you really wanted the definitive document that gave you deeper understanding of it and all the processes that surround it? (History, printing, shooting, encountering every button and menu item, editing, special effecting, handling RAW images, working in Photoshop, etc.)

What wanted you to get this information in spite of the factoid that the stock market has cratered and that congress has, once again, lost its collective mind?

What if you could get a new, 2 GB USB 2.0 flash drive with the D300 eBook on it for 20% off?

What if previous eBook readers were right in saying the eBook is more valuable than any other accessory you could get for your camera?

What if you simply added the code "PHOTO" into the coupon field on the eBook order page to get the whole three-volume set for 20% off?

What if you just clicked on the banner here to see the list of all the DSLR-series eBooks that are now enjoying the Holiday Sale Inauguration Sale ...Bailout Sale? Yeah, that's the ticket.

What if the sale applied to ANY of our eBooks? Well, it does.

One more reason for your camera to be happier than you thought it would be in 2009.

12/03/08

Nikon D3x 

How many pixels should dance on the head of a pin?

9/29/08

D90 Preview  

The Nikon D90 has been on board for several weeks.
And we agree with Galileo Galilei. "E pur si muove," (Still, it moves.)

Read all about it in our two-part preview/review.

You'll get more still camera review data, numbers, timing and math from other sources, but once you see our video motion notions, you'll either want one or not.

At least you will come away from our preview/review experience with more knowledge than the Still Camera reviewers have given you.

9/1/08

D300 eBook Report  

Done.

The DSLR: Nikon D300 eBook is finished. The pre-order duplicates have been finished.

Printed elements are the only lagging pieces and they tell me that it's two days at the most for those. The package labels have been printed. We are drumming our fingers.

Unless a hurricane hits LA, your preordered copy will be with you very quickly.

Sorry it took so long, but this camera deserved the full court press treatment. And it got it.

You will discover within its pages things that didn't exist in the Nikon world in August.

Update: DSLR: Nikon D300. Now available.

Tweaked 9/1/08

D300 eBook Progress Report  

Change. Sometimes it's a Good Thing.

The DSLR: Nikon D300 eBook will NOT be coming to you on a fast 1 GB USB Flash Drives when it starts shipping in a few days. It will be coming to you on a fast 2 GB USB Flash Drive.

Double the capacity of the previous media. Faster transfer from the Flash Drive to your computer, more spare room for your current projects, weighs less than an ounce, has a flip-out body—so no cap can possibly be lost, the final USB Flash Drive is an improvement in every way.

We also now know the final page count for the eBook. The page count is 1128 1176 for the three volumes (updated 9/1/08).

The pre-order special price of $55.95 is still no longer in effect. It will has increased to its regular price only after all the pre-orders were duplicated.

Here it comes. But it only costs $59.95, so it's still a bargain.

August 9, 08

D300 eBook Extra  

Announced.
Included with the DSLR: Nikon D300 eBook.

Pre Orders Now Still $5 Off.
The instant these start shipping, the price
will be $5 more. Click the picture in the previous
article to find the magic preorder link.

Remember that new SB-900? It turns out to have an interesting filter holder that secures odd-shaped filters. So we invented the odd-shaped printable filter for them.

When you click on the image here, you will see a third item, but then when you release that click, whoosh--off you go to the detail page. See you there.

August 1, 08

D300 eBook  

Revealed. Pre Orders Now.

What is the D300?
Camera or portable image system?

We say the latter. So it has been studied from every angle and every point of view. Always with an eye to "How can we make this Very Complex Tool into a Very Familiar Extension of Your Creativity?"

And it can be done. But it takes all the teaching skills to do it. Solid explanations. Wry Humor. Interactive (playful AND informative) multi-layer images. Embedded movies. Hyperlinks to other eBook pages AND into the Internet. Challenges to your sense of status quo. Revelations. Technological subtext. Eye-popping pictures. Mnemonics. Unforgettable passages. Surprises. Easter eggs. Graphics that zap your retina. Type that makes eBook reading pleasant. Printable format. Outrageous claims. Proofs. Diversions. Twists. Nobody expects the Spanish Steps.* Assignments. Work arounds. 14-bit inquisitions. Running bits. Hand-eye coordination. Latent fingerprints. Gotchas. Pop Quizzes. And looking at things several different ways.

The DSLR: Nikon D300 ebook. Almost as much fun as the camera.
On fast USB flash drive only. Weighs nothing. Can't scratch. Goes everywhere. Instant Boot-Up.

Nothing has been held back. All has been revealed.
Even the new SB-900 Speedlight, and how it integrates into
working with the D300 is in the 400+ page Camera Operations
and 130+ page problem solving chapters.

We've even included... get this... Printable (!) custom color effect filters for the SB-900.**

* I kid you not. They're in there.
** No misprint. You'll need special print stock. We'll show you what and how.

July 27, 08

SB-900 Super Duper Flash

Did you hear the one about the SB-900?

Not to be confused with the SB-800 killer flash from 2003, we're talking about the new 2008 unit that pretends to the throne of CLS.*

Creative Lighting System. Home of Command Mode.

What's it got? What's it do?

What's it worth?

Is Nikon collecting too much "Duper?"

* Nikon's exclusive Creative Lighting System.

July 1, 08

D700 Super Duper Cam  

Full Frame and Five Star?

You know about the D300.

The King of all current DSLRs for value, features, image quality and ergonomics.

Here comes the Big One. Nearly a twin to the D300.

The D700 is everything the D300 is, plus a full frame chip.

Read all about it in our Preview.

May 8, 08 News

D300 Review 2  

Now that the D300 eBook is entering the Layout Stage, we have more to say.

What does it take to pry open the hood of the D300? We've been working on it every day since it walked in the door, and while our initial impressions in our Preview still stand, we now see it much more clearly.

Check out our Review 2 to catch a sense of the D300 after six months of trying out every feature and menu item. See what the FUNC it's all about.

All of that and more will be in the rapidly-approaching DSLR: Nikon D300 eBook. Updates on the timing of eBook release will appear as we know them. Click on the FUNC button for a mindful.

March 19, 08 News

Light!   

New bulb beats pooh out of LEDs.

Luxim Corp has introduced a little teeny weeny lightbulb brighter than anything previous.

So what?

This means several things in your future, eventually.

More light for less energy. A solar panel on your roof will put more light into your life (workplace/street lighting/TV set, etc.) than even LEDs can bring.

LEDs deliver up to 70 lumens per watt. This tiny bulb delivers twice that. And it is smaller than your pinky fingernail.

Will it light photography studios? Oh yes. Stay tuned.

March 6, 08 News

ACTIONS! eBook Updates   

For ACTIONS! eBook owners only:

14 folders have been additionally updated today to be compatible with Photoshop™ Version 7.

Updated versions of some of the 611 iNovaFX Actions now work seamlessly within PS 7 even though they were created on more recent versions of PS.

Now you can iShatter along with the rest of us. And iBubble, iCombo, iPencilSketch, iOldTymie, iToons, iVignette, etc.

All ACTIONS! eBook owners are eligible for the free upgrade.

All USB Drive orders already include them in the ActionsActions folder.

Click the pic for more info.

February 8, 08 News

ACTIONS! eBook Delivery NOTES!

   

Thanks for all the pre-orders!
The packaging will be arriving before Valentine's day,
and all the pre-orders—USB and CD—will go out immediately.

February 5, 08 News

IT is Here!!

Smaller than your thumb. Bigger than Photoshop!
(because Photoshop is only the start).

Get the ACTIONS! eBook now. USB Premium Edition is up first. CD Edition very soon.

Feb 2, 08 News

PMAzing

What impressed me from PMA 08

It can't be. Smaller than a rolled up sock. A full HD camcorder with no moving parts (except zoom, focus and optical steady parts). Some other things, too.

January 15, 08 News

Thin is In

Portable Photoshop just went skinny

The portable digital darkroom has been revised. Major.

Taking up less room than a paper notepad, the new MacBook Air brings your workstation along for the ride. Click on it for more.

November 26, '007 (updated January 28, 008)

What's All This, Then?

iNova's Next

Here it comes, a new kind of digital photography project. It's an eBook and software project to be delivered on a USB thumb drive. Late January, '08. We are in the last stages of production right now.

Called Lights... Digital Camera... Actions!, it brings you literally hundreds of new, productive and exotic photographic treatments, fixes and conversions through Photoshop 7, CS, CS2 and CS3+ in the form of Photoshop Actions.

This new work expands the eBook idea to the next level and delivers iNova's Greatest Action Hits in a format for all digital cameras from 6MP to 12+MP.

Many NEW Photoshop Actions are included.

Photoshop Actions are those single-click macros that turn your Cessna Photoshop 7, CS, CS2 and CS3 into a Stealth Fighter. The iNovaFX library of these are all 100% original and the collection runs into the hundreds. All of them streamlined and configured for larger images, especially those from DSLRs.

The thumb-drive medium lets you easily move the book and its software to any computer you use (USB port required). We want you to be able to transparently access the goodies in here wherever your work takes you.

You've seen these iNovaFX Actions customized for specific model Nikon, Canon and Sony digital cameras in the past. Now they're going universal.

Every image from your DSLR or high-end point-and-shoot camera (a name that suggests there must be cameras that don't need to be pointed before shooting, but I digress...) from about 6MP to over 12MP can reap the benefits from these Actions.

Virtually every page in this work harbors interactive images. You see the before/after of every Action along with options, tweaks and alternative choices.

Professional photographers, photo illustrators, advanced enthusiast photographers, photo journalists, architectural photographers, art photographers and people who know their photography deserves to be seen as a cut above the norm will profit greatly from these Actions.

Click the cover for more data. Check back for news on the debut (January, 2008).

Sample pages coming soon.

January 16, '008 Updated

DSLR Of The Decade?*

Nikon's latest Monster

It's going to be a sharp Holiday Season. The D300s are shipping and lots of people will be grinning from all angles.

Here's a tantalizing peek at the next Nikon super cam from our in-hand expert.

*Sure, the decade is only 0.8x finished, counting from 0-9, but so far, we predict this is the trickest clicker of the mix we've picked to affix our pix.

September 11, '007

Got DSLR Satisfaction?
J.D.Power and Associates knows how happy you are.

The numbers are in. But who are the Most Happy Fellas?

According to the survey, one DSLR brand stands out. Rather head and shoulders, it would appear--way over their competitors.

The contenders, in alphabetical order, are Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax and Sony.

Here's the chart. Do you think you know who is where? Obviously the top row won with top ratings in each of five categories.

Any bets? Are you sitting down?

Click on any pix to see the news.

September 10, '007

Adventures in Visualization

Can you do hard science with Photoshop? We can try.

"Give me a place to stand and I can move the world," said Archimedes. He was talking leverage, which was High Tech in his day.

Today our lever is Photoshop. And we have moved Mars. Sort of.

While the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snaps pictures, we have applied a little shadow detail recovery to the images and seen things that few, if any, are chatting up. Click the picture of the Mars Hole to see what's up.

August 31, '007

Big Vid/Small Cam

HD hits the sub-19 ounce barrier and wins.

When you can pack a 536 gram camera in your luggage and come back with virtually professional resolution HDV images, a New World Order is afoot. Or, in this case, about 5.5 inches.

Canon's HV20 is the tiny so-hot 1080i image-collector du jour, and it takes thoroughly decent 3.1MP stills as well.

Sure, it has its limits, but who among us doesn't? Put your hand down, it was a rhetorical question.

For the pro who is thinking about a back-up cam, a B-roll cam or a time-lapse camera at nearly disposable prices, this sub-grand ($US) camera deserves a hearing.

We do more than that. We reveal its hidden attributes right here, right now. Things you won't find in the manual. Things a considerate buyer would wish to know and test with one of these puppies in hand.

Read our Secrets-Revealing Report.

August 20, '007

Canon Father

Two New Big Guns

10 megapixels or 21. Pick your take.

The guys are busy at Canon today. They've just rolled out the biggest full-frame camera to date, the EOS-1 Ds Mark III with its huge 21+megapixel image chip.

In the same breath, they rolled out the camera we all thought was going to be the 30D, but it's the 40D, the larger, more professional, better version of the EOS 400D (Rebel XTi) with the same 10 MP image chip.

Both new cameras feature Canon's lovely Live View feature, that lets you see via the chip instead of the viewfinder for group gapes.

More soon. Until then, check with DPReview's preview here (Ds Mark III). or here (40D).

August 9, '007

Apple Pi
3.14159... New Mac Programs for Digital Photographers

How expensive is $79US?

It could cost you a bundle. Especially if a new computer were to be bundled with it.

Click here to learn more about the new iLife and iWork software offerings from Apple Inc.

Each is $79 but you might get one of them for free.

June 30, '007

MegaBook NOW!
Give that D40/D40x a college education

Now it can be yours. The most complete eBook in the history of digital cameras. The new DSLR: Nikon™ D40 / D40x eBook deals with the lightest of Nikon interchangeable lens cameras.

Both the 6MP D40 and its 10MP big brother, the D40x (twins born four months apart, can you believe it?), are high in value, stunning in ergonomics (you know, the interface that either lets you do what you want or holds you up while you puzzle it out), and low in credit-card drain.

Every button and menu item. And why you need it now or lose the shot. Every Nikkor lens you ever wanted, and some to avoid. Plus every trick in the eBook.

The D40/x's don't have some of the features of the D80 and D200 (nor do they cost anywhere near as much), so you have to know every technique, every work-around and every option to solve all the shooting problems you will encounter.

Included is the 210-page RAW Materials, by Uwe Steinmueller, the manipulation of NEF files, which both cameras produce in glorious high quality.

There are more tools inside these cameras than they have any right to. Especially for their price. There is virtually nothing you can't achieve with a D40x that you can do with a D80 / D200.

That's why this eBook is so huge. 1013 pages geared to moving your photographic best foot forward. On the left you see the 4.25 inch thick stack it printed out on my laser printer during proofing. Every page is 8.5 x 11 and every image may be blown up to 400% size before showing its pixels. Adobe Reader 8 included for Vista, Windows XP, Mac PPC and Mac Intel platforms.

As requested by Nikon, we have included the fully-funtioning 30 day Trial version of Nikon Capture NX.

Add to that the 660+ 6/10MP iNovaFX Photoshop Actions, and you will be hanging shots in a museum.

Click on the image to see more details. Shipping is NOW!

Updated May 19, '007

The 13th Element
Adobe Tools Up

We all knew that PS CS3 was coming, but what we didn't know is that everything Adobe now talks in intimate, hushed tones to everything else Adobe.
 
With todays roll-out, whole new worlds of image, animation, special effects and web presentation have become much easier to use for complex creative tasks.

February 21, 2007

The Gonzo Chip
Sony Busts a Cap

Hyper HDTV anyone?
1250% slow motion anyone?
Want to peek at the future?
No further questions.
Just click on the pic.

February 8, 2007

Mega Myth Mangled in the NYT
Don't let me test again!

David Pogue. What a GUY! Clever, articulate and fun all around.

Rarely does he step in it. Almost always he has the whole picture captured from a perspective so fresh and interesting that you just have to smile and let it wash over you.

But this time he's proven something at the clearly intuitively correct level without a level.

Find out how Pogue's Gone Wild in our knee wrinkling expose.

Click the pic for the quick schtick.

January 8, 2007

New Adobe Reader
A new look for an essential utility.

Our eBooks have always shipped with Adobe Reader on board.

It's the utility that allows our PDF file documents to display on your computer screen along with their extensive interactive images, and now Adobe has updated the software to Version 8.

It's a free download from Adobe here for Windows PCs, Mac Power PCs and Mac Intel PCs.

It offers several operational improvements, looks better and handles all our eBooks just fine, thanks. Get yours today. You can't beat the price.

December 20, 2006

D40 On Deck
Where did it go? I had it here, somewhere.

Nikon's new D40 may be the smallest DSLR out there, and it reminds me of the small film SLRs of years past.

Make no mistake, even though it is smaller than its older siblings, it packs more features and photography into every cubic centimeter than previous models. And casts out a few that were largely not used.

But is it just too small? Click on the camera for our first impressions.

December 14, 2006

D80 eBook NOW!
Slam - Dunk - Cheers

If only the Nikon D80 had its own eBook.
All those features--so little time.

Ready for the holidays, here it is. The screaming D80--possibly the highest value DSLR alive today--reveals its secrets, hidden talents and pictorial power in the latest DSLR title.

Packing the same picture found in the 70% more expensive D200, the D80 has a lot to say, as does this new volume.

DSLR: Nikon D80 eBook orders are being filled the instant they arrive. The perfect Open Me First gift for the photographer who is about to get everything.

And while we are on the subject, if you know someone who is getting--or already has--the D200, may we recommend our DSLR: Nikon D200 eBook? It's exactly what they want, but may not know it, yet.

It's a lot more than just a book about the camera; it's about the joy of photography, the challenges, secrets and opportunities. Plus every button, menu item, lens and accessory.

As customers have said, "EBook = eWow!"

November 12, 2006

D70 eBook iNovaFX CS2 Ready!
Photoshop CS2 adapts to D70 iNovaFX Actions.

When the D70 eBook appeared, Photoshop CS was the tallest version you could buy.

Since then, Adobe has introduced PS CS2 which is endowed with several new features, and wouldn't you know it, several new lapses in functionality.

The new --even amazing in some cases-- functions win out over the older, lost functions, but one consequence has been that some of the iNovaFX Actions produce a message you never wanted to see:

The obect "action "iNovaFXxyz" of set "iNovaFXfolderABC.atn"" is not currently available.

Click on the picture for a full rundown on how to restore complete functions to your iNovaFX Actions in Photoshop CS2. It will take you far less time to fix them than it has taken to read this story.

November 10, 2006

D80 eBook In Production!
A camera to make your holiday.
D80 eBook is entering its final phases. Of all the 10MP cameras available this holiday season, the D80 is the value leader.

In fact, it re-defines the notion of Digital Photography, but not how you think. Never has so much camera been available for so few paycheck digits.

And I'm not the only one to see it that way.

August 18, 2006

D80 In House!
A camera to make your day.

Here. Check it out.
A10 MP with a lot to say.

The new crown prince of the Nikon DSLRs.

Click on the camera for the straight dope.

August 18, 2006


D200 eBook!
At Last it's here and it's stunning.

Projects like this take a lot of time and study. Still, we get things wrong. Like the day last December that we bought the camera and decided it would be three months of prep, then a new eBook would join the shelf. Bwaaa haa haa ha ha!

Click on the image for more.

July 17, 2006
D200 eBook!
Close

A long time coming. And worth every moment.

Sometimes I'm convinced that this project has taken so long because it has been so much fun digging out all the D200's photographic, operational and system-wide secrets.

The DSLR: Nikon D200 eBook is in its last lap before it premiers.

The camera does such a wide range of things well that it has taken much longer to disrobe than previous eBook subjects. And who wants to explore something this sexy if it's still in its jammies?

Back in March we didn't know how long it was going to take, and back in June we were still guessing. With every guess, we got closer.

There are many new things in this volume that have never appeared in such depth. New in the D200 eBook:

  • High quality Nikon fisheye imaging with the D200.
  • Professional systems, hardware, software and tech ware.
  • Synchronized, wireless camera + SB-800 multi-repeating flash up to 50 pulses/second.
  • Unique ways to wrangle and maintain the D200.
  • Practical infrared shooting with the D200.
  • Hockney-graphy with the D200.
  • Multiple exposures wrestled to earth. The right, the difficult and the optional.
  • Time-lapse in depth. BIG embedded movies on the pages.
  • Giant format photography much more detailed than Large frames.
  • Nikon Capture NX explored.
  • ALL the current Nikkor lenses you want to use with the D200--or should.
  • Exact instructions for every menu item along with WHY you need it--or not.

It's so close, we are now beginning to accept pre-orders. Thank you to the hundreds of fans who have waited so patiently. Your notes and eMails have always been helpful and appreciated.

Orders can be made by phone right now and via Internet pages soon. Graphics Management: (310) 475 2988 in the US only.

* or, maybe not so secret. Any more.


Get the eBooks. DSLR-series eBooks cover select Nikon and Canon DSLRs. Or you can call direct and order from the publisher by phone or FAX.
Phone:(310) 475 2988 (M-F 9-5 Pacific Time)  
FAX (310) 475 9486 (24hrs).

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