Geological Wonders Our Picture This! assignment this month was Geological Wonders, the amazing forms and patterns of the natural world. While we rightfully admire the design concepts and executions of engineers and artists, they are in many ways little match (indeed are often humble imitations) of what a walk in a canyon or valley will provide.
Now that most enthusiast-level cameras are boasting resolution of at least 8 megapixels, memory card speed and storage capacity have become particularly important. When shooting in raw capture or ultrahigh JPEG size/quality, there's definitely a benefit to using the fastest/largest memory card. The extra speed is also ideal after a long trip, when uploading hundreds (or...
You'd think that with 12- and 16-megapixel digital SLRs so readily available that demand for digital backs and medium format digital bodies would be languishing. But 2007 looks like another good year for the big guns with both Rollei and Hasselblad showing very impressive new products, Pentax still showing a prototype digital body, and Phase One still doing very well...
While no clear trends emerged, I was struck by the presence of many sleeker styled, more compact units. These lights are designed for portability and user-friendliness, with a special emphasis on affordability. I had expected to see a snowball effect in strobes with digital control, but that was not the case.
I have split this report into Studio and Mobile Strobe...
With printer manufacturers introducing better and better printers, particularly affordable high-end dye-based inkjets and consumer-oriented pigment-ink printers, all media manufacturers have lined up to bring us products that will expand the horizons of these output devices. Of particular interest to me was one company's refillable ink system designed for a consumer...
Here is a quick tip list on letters for the HELP! desk: Please confine yourself to only one question per letter. Both postal letters and e-mails are fine, although we prefer e-mail as the most efficient form of communication. Send your e-mail queries to editorial@shutterbug.com with Help in the subject header and...
Photographers know that extra light is often needed to produce a top-quality picture. They also know that the camera's built-in flash will only illuminate subjects within 10 or so feet from the camera and the light it throws is harsh and frequently results in the distracting redeye effect. That's when a hot shoe or bracket mount flash comes into play.
After a thorough walk about the entire two-floor trade show at the 2007 PMA this old photographer was pleasantly surprised to learn that in spite of some type or form of digitizing being involved in nearly everything photographic displayed at the show, film is not dead--yet!
The Agfa brand is getting back into the market in the U.S.A. with Vista color...
This issue contains our annual new products report in which we look at a number of product groupings and discuss what's been introduced in each in the last few months. The main inspiration for this flood of products comes from our attending America's largest photo/imaging trade show, known as PMA (Photo Marketing Association). Our staff and a host of our contributing...
It's not the tools that capture the images; it's the photographer's vision that does the job. Nonetheless, here I am at the annual hardware orgy that is PMA, where smiling PR people try to put the best possible spin on the organized chaos that is the photo industry. Everyone has realized that digital imaging is not just another version of the widely...