September 30 , 2008

October Table Of ContentsIn This eNewsletter:
Lens Review - Lens Tech Update
Industry Perspective - Mergers & Acquisitions
What's New This Month - Nikon, Corel, SanDisk, Panasonic, and Lexar
Camera Review - The Sony Alpha 900
Vote! -
Comment briefly on how you think a 70MB file would impact your photography.
Workshops - Learn and Show
Shutterbug Forums - Your Photo & Digital Imaging Source

Lens Tech Update
Is This the World’s Longest Range Zoom?
by George Schaub

Not so far back photographers were leery of zoom lenses that exceeded a 3x focal length ratio; in other words, say you started at 70mm, then a 210mm outer range would be considered “safe.” (Indeed even further back photographers considered zooms of any kind less than desirable when compared to fixed focal length lenses.) The feeling was, and indeed tests at that time showed, that there were simply too many optical compromises for all those focal lengths and aperture combinations to work in so-called “extended ratio” zooms. Something had to give—either the quality of images at the longer and shorter ranges, and/or at many focal lengths when used at the maximum or minimum apertures. While the design of any zoom lens has always been a formidable task, computer-aided design, long experience in the task and the new technologies such as image stabilization have helped raise the quality level to standards unheard of in the past.
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Mergers & Acquisitions
by Ron Leach, Publisher

At a time when world-wide attention is focused on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the government bailout of insurance giant AIG, and the  sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, it's fair to anticipate the possibility of some consolidation within the photo industry as well.
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Nikon Nikon D90 Digital SLR
Nikon Inc. has announced the D90, a digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera that allows photographers to easily create still images and High Definition (HD) movie clips with sound - with the same camera.

Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 and Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate Edition
Corel Corporation announced Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 and Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate.

SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash Series Doubles Capacity And Boosts Speed 50 Percent With New 32-Gigabyte Card
SanDisk Corporation announced the 32GB SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash (CF) card, the latest addition to its award-winning SanDisk Extreme III line.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1: World's Smallest And Lightest Digital Interchangeable Lens Camera
The G1 will be available in mid-November as a kit with the new LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm/F3.5-5.6 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S lens.

Lexar 16GB Secure Digital High Capacity and CompactFlash Memory Cards
Lexar Media announced that the company has further increased the capacity of its Platinum II flash memory card line by introducing a Platinum II 60x 16GB Secure Digital High Capacity card.

The Sony Alpha 900
What Does 24 Megapixels Look Like, and Why Would You Need It?
by George Schaub

First off, you won’t see any images with this piece. The reason is that when I first got to shoot with the camera in August, Sony made me sign a blood oath that no images from the preproduction sample could be published. Understandable, I guess, as they wanted to be sure to tweak any problems before the camera hit the street, and wanted to be sure that I, and the rest of the press given this initial glimpse of the camera, wouldn’t make any judgments prior to their final adjustments, if any. And, there was no Raw converter available, from Sony or anyone else, so all I got to examine were my JPEGs. Indeed, showing you examples in this venue would result in images on your monitor that for all intents and purposes would not look much different than those produced by a good 8 megapixel camera. Rest assured that by the time you read this we will have a release sample in test, and will publish our findings in Shutterbug as soon as those tests are done. And specs for the camera are available on our News Desk.
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  Vote!
Now that Sony has released the Alpha 900 with a 24 megapixel sensor, image file sizes will be near 70MB when opened. Do you think that your work would benefit from such a large file size?
Please comment briefly on how you think a 70MB file would impact your photography.

Tamron Workshops Private Film Or Digital Workshops With Steve Anchell
Salem, 1-day, weekend, or 5-day workshops. Contact: Anchell Photography Workshops, 503-375-2163, website: www.anchellworkshops.com.

Tamron Photo Workshops
Learn How to Take Great Images at a Tamron In-The-Field Photo Workshop Led by Professional Photographers.

Secret Italy – The Photography Workshop with Kevin Kubota
Kubota Image Tools announces that there are still spots available for professional and advanced amateur photographers that would like to attend Kevin Kubota’s 4th creative Italy photography workshop.


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