Proud Photography Blog

It was recently reported that Canon was planning on fixing the EOS-1D Mark III autofocus issue.
It now looks like that mission is well underway because Canon has decided to pull every single EOS-1D Mark IIIl units from the shelves in response to the autofocus issue ruining their professional DSLR.
Above is a legitimate letter sent to dealers on October 25th, where Canon states that they have decided to stop shipment of all EOS-1D Mark III.
It reads on saying that it will recollect all unsold EOS-1D Mark III units from the stock and  shipping recommencement date is promised at a later time.
An act like that by the Japanese company is very bold because the problem only affected some of the units sold so far.
By doing that Canon has just demonstrated great loyalty and responsibility towards their numerous clients.
But then again Canon is known for excellence ,quality and great customer service .

The company will most likely send out new lenses so that owners can adjust in the camera themselves.

The Casio EXILIM EX-V8 provides 8.1 effective megapixels in a very thin and durable body that is compact enough to fit in the palm of your hand.
It comes with 7X internal optical zoom lens designed to eliminate a maximum of noise.
Additionally the EX-V8 offers four blur reduction technologies, including a CCD-shift image stabilization mechanism.
The EX-V8 has up to 10.1 and sports a 3x 38-114 equivalent zoom.
Photographers are expected to get an EXILIM Engine 2.0 that provides  high-performance image processing module, which allows high quality movies to be recorded at an impressive rate of the next-generation H.264 standard.
There’s also a YouTubeâ„¢ Capture Mode, which enables users to shoot and save movies at the optimum size, quality and other settings for YouTubeâ„¢.
Other headline features include face-detection, Anti Shake DSP and sensitivities up to ISO 6400.
he 10.1 megapixel
The camera produces beautiful photographs even when making large prints. It is ideal for photographing darker scenes and reducing blur caused by shaky hands and subject movement.

Bill Heuer, Vice President of Sales for Casio’s Digital Imaging Division said:
“Each year we strive to make advancements in our popular EXILIM digital cameras,” “These models are no exception, as they blend many of the standard features EXILIM cameras are known for, with groundbreaking new technology such as YouTube™ Capture Mode, and the EXILIM Engine 2.0 high performance image processing module. If you ever needed an excuse to shoot photos and videos of friends or family these EXILIM cameras are it!”

The Casio EXILIM EX-V8 costs $329.99.
Specifications include:
8.1 million effective pixels, 7X optical zoom, CCD-shift image stabilization mechanism,2.5-inch Bright LCD display (maximum brightness of 1000 cd/m2 at the center of the screen), Maximum 4 shot/second high-speed continuous shutter (only at 2.0 megapixel image size), Available in silver.

Microsoft Corp. and Phase One announced their collaboration today in order to find better ways to improve digital imaging solutions for professional photographers and amateurs.
The two enterprises will work hand in hand to create solutions for the Microsoft Windows platform that further innovation in digital photography .
The alliance is based on the association of Phase One’s industry expertise with Microsoft’s widely used platform technology which will include technology sharing and intellectual property assets as well as joint marketing.

Kostas Mallios, general manager of the Rich Media Group at Microsoft said:
“Microsoft and Phase One are joining forces to develop solutions for the Windows platform that meet the sophisticated needs of professional and ‘prosumer’ photographers,”
 ”Today’s announcement is another example of Microsoft’s commitment to our customers and the digital imaging industry.”

Microsoft is known for its numerous investments in digital imaging technology for Windows Vista, HD Photo, Photosynth, Digital Image Suite and other products that provide high quality solutions for professional photographers and beginners.
Phase One is an enterprise that has built software that streamlines the digital image-capture and post-production process for 14 years.
The company also distributes DSLR, medium- and large-format photographic equipment.
This collaboration should produce some interesting results.

Bunkspeed, Inc has announced today that their avant-garde 3D rendering HyperShot application is now available for Mac OS X customers.
The HyperShot is the solution for professional photographers, who are looking to obtain a 3D rendering way to compose sophisticated and artistic backgrounds for their images.

The Software is simple to use but is an extremely powerful 3D rendering environment which is  perfect for photographers  involved in automobile ,landscape and industrial design photography and marketing.

Snappers are able to directly apply paints and materials to 3D models generated in numerous popular 3D programs and placed into HyperShot.

Vic Huber, a famous car photographer, explained most of marketing photography is headed towards a more computer graphical design.
Sadly photographers and other artists have been limited in their access to CG imagery, because it acquires so much knowledge to master these complicated rendering programs.
Hubert also insisted that the HyperShot puts the creative element back into the hands of the creative people ,where it belonged in the first place,
Vic additionally revealed:

“The rendering firms can come up with great technical images, but the striking visuals, the compelling ideas – that should be done on the creative end. People want to see an unforgettable image, not technology.”
“And HyperShot gives this capability back to the artists. It’s affordable, and much easier to learn than traditional rendering applications. Both of these features really level the playing field again,”

The launching of the HyperShot to the Mac OS X platform is no big surprise because photography is dominated by Mac industry.
The relationship is perfect because Mac is preferred by creative photographers also.
HyperShot is now available in three versions the HyperShot Web priced at USD 195.00,the HyperShot HD sold for USD 995.00 but for the HyperShot Pro buyers need to contact Bunkspeed.

Anyone interested in tonemapping? It is very easy to do if you have the right software…I use Photoshop CS3 for RAW conversions and then Photomatix Pro for the HDR¹ generating and tonemapping.

You can generate HDR from one exposed photo but I find it best to secure camera on tripod and take at least three shots using AEB² if your camera has it, what you are looking for is underexposed shot to get details in the lighter areas, ‘perfect’ exposure for midtones and overexposure for details in the darker areas.

If you don’t own a tripod don’t worry as you can fake it with RAW conversion…i.e change the exposure value before you open the RAW file, do this three times and save them to your desktop, open Photomatix and click on HDR tab on tool bar, then click where it says generate and it will then ask you to load images, browse to desktop and select your saved images, then click ok.

Photomatix will then come up with another box to align images, again click ok, wait for the script to do its magic and you will be presented with the worst looking image ever!!!! Fear not brave cameraists this is HDR in all its raw glory, you also will see a HDR viewer so as you scroll around the disaster scene you will see lots of detail in the viewer but not the bigger picture (seems ironic to me lol).

OK now we would normally bin this image as unusable so now comes the magic part…tonemapping! Hit HDR on the toolbox and in the dropdown menu seek out tonemap or hit ctrl+t, then more computing magic and you are presented with a much better looking image…play around with the strength and luminosity etc have fun!!! If anyone found this remotely interesting then I am quite prepared to carry on…let me know;o)

AEB²- Auto Exposure Bracketing; simple automated technique professional photographers use to ensure they properly expose their pictures, especially in challenging lighting situations; taking two or more pictures: one slightly under-exposed (usually by dialing in a negative exposure compensation, say -1/3EV), and the second one slightly over-exposed (usually by dialing in a positive exposure compensation, say +1/3EV).

Canon has announced on Thursday that the autofocus complications that have stained the lauch of Canon’s high-end EOS-1D Mark III camera will soon be resolved.
The company revealed that the problem involves a mirror that directs light to the camera’s autofocus subsystem.
When a photographer takes a picture, both the main mirror and the sub-mirror for the autofocus system flip out of the way to let light shine on the camera’s main image sensor.
Nonetheless by simply adjusting that mirror the autofocus will be fixed.
Therefore if you were looking to purchase yourself the $4,500 Canon camera, equipped for any professional photojournalists ,you still can.
After many troubles were reported,Chuck Westfall, Canon USA’s Director of Media and Customer Relationship,is reassuring customers that a remedy has been found.
Westfall explained that the company doesn’t believe that every one of the Canon’s high-end EOS-1D Mark III camera is affected.
And Canon has made it clear that it will rapidly provide a simple way for owners to identify if their camera is among those with an issue in the next two or three weeks.
US-based owners should be getting instruction first while buyers that reside elsewhere will likely be informed shortly thereafter.
It should be noted that new cameras coming off the line don’t have the problem.

Yesterday Sony presented the HDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album,created for photographers to organize, archive, and appreciate slideshows of their digital pictures.
The HDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album compact is composed of an 80GB hard drive, it can be connected to a high definition television via HDMI and is able to showcase up to 50,000 high resolution photographies.

The gadget gives you many options when it comes to importing your shots , including multiple flash memory card formats, CD, DVD, USB or Ethernet.
After accessing your photos ,they can be controlled thanks to the supplied remote control and the device’s intuitive interface.

The Sony Digital Photo Album lets snappers organize their art by date, special occasions such as birthdays and travel (using pre-selected icons), or into as many as 3,000 different photo albums .
Therefore you find a category for every important event.

Snappers are given the possibility to review, edit, rotate, delete and arrange photos for a slideshow or digital scrapbooking with the help of Sony’s x-Application® options.

Sony’s managing x-Pict Story HD software is included and allows you to create high quality slideshows, meaning no need for any PC-based photo editing.
Additional features include 30 pre-loaded music tracks and transition that can be combine to Slideshows otherwise add up to five songs from your own CDs.
It is also compatible with most printers.
With Sony’s face detection technology faces are located automatically in photographs and are adjusted .

The HDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album will be available in October for about $400.

Award-winning photographer Jim Reed’s new book  STORM CHASER: A Photographer’s Journey is on extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes.
Nonetheless his goal is also to drive people to take a serious look at the coming climate crisis.

In the book Reed recalls a terrifying moment crouching under a carport in Port Charlotte, Florida.
Jim explains that he has been caught off while hunting these dangerous storms for the spectacular pictures ,but what he lived in Florida almost killed him.
What began as an assignment to document and photograph the effects of Category 2 winds on palm trees landed him in the eye of Hurricane Charley of 2004.
He writes that the 140 mph winds destroyed homes ,uprooted trees and turned cars into toy like projectiles.
Jim reveals that he captured impressive shots and stills that hit the national media the next day.

The talented photographer has survived the direct landfall of 15 hurricanes, including Katrina, which he pictured 70 yards from the water in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Surprisingly enough Reed dislikes adrenaline rushes,they turn his stomach and are not great asset for a photographer because they make his hands shake.
Reed says he does not battle the elements he worships them.

 ”I go out as if I’m going to some sort of spiritual service. I try to be as respectful and reverent as I can.”

In STORM CHASER: A Photographer’s Journey (Harry N. Abrams; November, 2007),the storm snapper shares the fruit of his labor. Clouds take on the color of blood oranges in one image.
Every photo is like an oracle of Greek mythology: Beautiful, seductive and unfortunately full of bad news about what’s to come. In the nearly 200-page tome, Reed’s writings and pictures push his agenda to drive public awareness of the climate crisis.

Reed is a USC fine art graduate who grew up in Springfield, Illinois, where severe weather was part of his life.
He remembers a particularly bad flood, for instance, and a 1978 storm that uprooted his favorite backyard trees.
When he was 11 years old he lived a terrifying tornado while at a church camp,that is when he decided that his calling was taking pictures and writing about weather.
There’s a dark side to storm chasing he admits,the nightmares and flashbacks of these life threatening moments led to personality disorders (PTSD),but he is getting treated.
According to Jim America is not ready for what’s coming because the most challenging storms haven’t even arrived.

Lucy Todd has made it to the final of the national RSPCA Young Photographer Awards.
Todd succeeded by getting a very original picture of her two-year-old tortoise named Puffy yawning while practicing with her new digital camera.
Lucy is currently among 33 entrants, retained from the many thousands who participated and is the youngest in the running to become the RSPCA’s winner.

The snapper is 18 years old , and is from Salvington Hill, Worthing,England.
She was interviewed and said that she was agreeably surprised of the outcome because she is an amateur at photography.
The youngster’s joy was shared with her mother whom she lives with.
Her explanation for participating was the fact that you infrequently get to see a tortoise with its mouth wide open like in her picture.

Although she does not truly believe that she will win the contest she does admit that it is wonderful to have made it this far.
Sadly for the teenager ,she suffers from agoraphobia after being bullied at school and has been housebound for the past four years.
The A-level student could not attend college because she was too young ,so at 16 she started taking Open University short courses from home.
At the completion of two science courses, she started a photography one and was given a digital camera for Christmas in 2006.
Lucy continued by adding that being forced to stay indoors all the time, enables her to have a creative and original outlet on photography .
The inspirations for her shots are her two tortoises, her cats and close-ups of things like leaves and plants.

The young girl has tried various therapies and while she is slowly recovering from her agoraphobia, she still suffers from severe panic attacks.

The prodigy will not be present at the award finals that will take place at the Natural History Museum in London on December 14, but wishes to send a representative .

Lucy has plans to both complete a course and work in photography .

The Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot catches the magic of life through its advanced Bionz processor.
A technology that powers new possibilities such as Face Detection, in-camera retouching and red-eye reduction, D-Range Optimization, and 9-Point AF.
It comes with Sony’s Double Anti-Blur Solution along with Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization with high-sensitivity (ISO 3200) allowing photographers to capture sharp, and vivid low-light images without flash to preserve the mood.

Users are expected to find 7.2-megapixel Super HAD CCD which enables them to get more detail and definition when they make big prints or crop in tight on your topics.
The advanced Sony Super HAD better known as Hole Accumulated Diode CCD design permits more light to pass to each pixel, increasing sensitivity and minimizing noise.

A great asset is the Carl Zeiss 3x optical zoom lens that can be defined as a high quality zoom lens designed to  bring distant subjects closer and lets you frame shots faster for better composition

The Face Detection is an automatic function that controls focus, exposure, color and flash, letting you reveal faces in shadow, makes skin tones look more natural and exterminates harsh facial glare therefore bringing out every expression on every face in every shot.

A delightful feature is the HD slide show with music which makes photos come alive on compatible HDTV screens, accompanied by your choice of visual effects and any of four preset musical selections stored in memory or your favorite MP3.

Additionally the 2.5-inch LCD screen is made for composing shots, checking results, sharing your photos on location.

A touch of the Home button opens your user-friendly GUI and you can select functions by simply moving a cursor vertically or horizontally to the appropriate icon.
Function names and the on-screen Function Guide display make it easier to learn camera setup operations.
Capture a great number of pictures with the 31 MB internal memory so it is perfect for traveling .

The camera is sold with  with a fully charged NP-BG1 Lithium-ion battery that can provide up to 340 shots ideal for a long weekend or a whole vacation.
The Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot is a compact bargain, with the hottest technology that Sony introduced in  2007 inside,such as Bionz processor, face detection technology, High ISO and Super SteadyShot one-two punch, in-camera editing and HD output signal .
It is priced at U.S.$200 and is available in pink, black, silver, or white.

Specifications include:
7.2 megapixel HAD CCD,Carl Zeiss 35-105mm equivalent 3x optical zoom lens, 14x Smart Zoom (VGA quality), 2x normal zoom, f/2.8 to f/8.0 at wide angle and f/5.2 to f/14.8 at telephoto, 2.5-inch LCD with 115,000 pixels,Nine-point autofocus, 340 shots on one charge of the lithium-ion battery, Broadcast quality Movie mode with sound and slow zoom,Shutter speed from 1/4 to 1/1,000 second in Auto and as long as one minute in Program Auto
Self-timer with 2- and 10-second options,Exposure bracketing, White balance: Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, Flash,Scene modes: Beach, High Sensitivity, Landscape, Snow, Soft Snap, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Flash range: 0.6′ to 10.8′ (W); 1.3′ to 5.9′ (T),PictBridge compatible, Available in four colors: black, silver,  Optical viewfinder, Face Detection, SteadyShot Image Stabilization,High ISO sensitivity (to ISO 3,200) with Sony Clear RAW Noise Reduction,HD output (1080i) for stills, with music, D-Range Optimization, In-camera Red-eye Reduction, Live histogram in recording modes,Burst mode of 10+ shots at 2.8 fps, 31MB internal memory,Support for up to 8GB Memory Stick PRO Duo media.