LATEST ADDITIONS

DxO Labs, a software company focused on research in image processing, has announced
that future versions of its flagship RAW converter DxO Raw Engine will support
Adobe's recently announced DNG (Digital Negative) specification.

High scene contrast always creates difficulties for photographers, whether
shooting film or digital. The difficulty stems from the difference between the
ways the film or sensor "sees" and how the human eye sees. Our eyes
are adaptive, and can resolve large variations in brightness by the way it scans
throughout the scene and the amazing reflex of automatically restricting and
dilating the pupil to adjust to bright and dark areas before us. While light
metering systems in cameras are impressive in the way they can read light, the
fact remains that at the moment of exposure the lens on a camera records a scene
at one fixed aperture, or opening. In most situations this is no problem, as
the meter averages light values and the bright and dark areas are distributed
through the recording medium properly. But high contrast presents a problem.

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Swift's Ultra Lite collection are said to be the first and only binoculars
to incorporate two different types of rubber to improve durability, shock-absorption
and comfort. These new binoculars combine harder rubber on their outer edges
for better protection against bangs and bumps. Softer rubber is used in the
area where you grip the binoculars, thereby reducing user fatigue. The softer
rubber also provides a superior grip in any weather condition, wet or dry. This
same technology is also used to create a non-slip focusing knob on these binoculars.
The dual density covering also aids the nature photographer by keeping these
binoculars quiet when rubbing against their clothes.

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The best remark I overheard this photokina was, "My tripod, it has three legs." Um, yes. This is one of the problems when you are reviewing new tripods. They all have three legs. But what makes a tripod special is the material it is made of, the way it folds up, or a new design of leg lock. This year I found all three.

Gitzo (distributed by Bogen Imaging...