Enjoy window light anytime, anywhere with the new Home Studio Lighting Kit, the latest addition to Westcott’s Photo Basics product line.  The kit includes (2) uLite constant lights with 6’ Light Stands, (2) 85-watt fluorescent lamps, (2) 20” Soft Boxes, and an educational DVD.  The constant uLites, combined with 85-watt fluorescents, provide perfect “what you see is what you get” lighting for photo and video.  Featuring 500 equivalent watts of power and true daylight balanced (5500K) temperature, these fluorescent lamps have a lifespan of over 8,000 hours.  This kit keeps things simple with portable, compact 20” Soft Boxes that set up and collapse in seconds. 

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DxO Labs is pleased to announce the immediate availability of DxO Optics Pro version 6, its award-winning software solution for demanding photographers. This new version provides the best-ever images from extreme ISO shots and further extends optical fault correction, while increasing both accessibility and productivity.

DxO Optics Pro 6 will be offered with an exceptional 33% introductory discount through December 31, 2009.

While camera manufacturers keep competing for high ISO performance, DxO Labs now offers the image processing technologies which are critical to delivering top-notch image quality from such extreme ISO shots.

In low-light conditions, photographers must choose between using low ISO and risking unnatural flash lighting or camera shake, or using high ISO settings with its typical image noise and loss of colors and details. But now, thanks to a new technological approach, DxO Optics Pro 6 sets a new bar for RAW conversion: photographers can push their cameras to the ISO limits and even beyond - as much as one to two stops above their usual ISO settings! - and still get great photos without any noticeable loss in image quality.

DxO Labs' new de-noising technology significantly extends the effective dynamic range and best leverages the higher bit-depth that modern sensors provide. Cleaning noise out of dark regions of the images allows photographers to digitally relight them (e.g. using DxO Lighting tool).

DxO Optics Pro has long been recognized for its unrivalled automatic optical fault correction based on DxO Optics Modules - laboratory-grade mathematical models characterizing the optical faults of each particular camera & lens combination which are computed for each focal length, each aperture, each focusing distance, etc. More than 1600 DxO Optics Modules are available today and can now be automatically detected and downloaded to the application - and this number is growing at an accelerated pace.

Also, for photographers who desire to adjust optical correction for a creative purpose, or to handle lenses that are not calibrated yet, DxO Optics Pro 6 now provides controls to manually adjust distortion, vignetting, chromatic aberrations, and sharpness (USM) for any lens.

As DxO Optics Pro expert users always look for more precise controls, DxO Optics Pro 6 features an additional fine detail adjustment which specifically deals with the preservation of high spatial frequency texture and details of the images - another demonstration of DxO Labs' consistent effort to bring the best to the optical faults correction so photographers can obtain the most perfect images.

DxO Optics Pro 6's user interface has been revamped to ease the first hands-on experience for beginners, providing them with the easiest RAW Conversion tool delivering best quality without the pain. For experts and professional photographers, productivity and control levels have also been improved.

Both the Standard and Elite editions of DxO Optics Pro 6 add support to the Olympus D-SLR family, along with latest Sony and Nikon cameras:

• Olympus E3, E30, E410, E420, E450, E510, E520, E620,
• Sony A230, A330, A380,
• Nikon D300s.

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World
Press Photo invites professional photographers and photojournalists from around
the world to enter the 53rd World Press Photo contest. The web entry site is
open for uploading entries from 1 December 2009 until the deadline of 14
January 2010. The web entry site can be accessed via href="http://www.worldpressphoto.org/contest" target="_blank">www.worldpressphoto.org/contest.
For the 2010 contest, it is no longer possible to submit entries by post on a
CD/DVD. Entries submitted by email are also not accepted.

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The Lowel Blender is said to be is the perfect solution for todays ‘run & gun’ video lighting needs.

Twin array’s of color accurate LED’s, in daylight & tungsten color temperatures, are mixed via 2 rotary
controls on the back of the unit and give the perfect blend of color to match a mixed light source environment.

Shooting in a daylit lobby with a hanging tungsten chandelier? Put beautiful fill-light on your talent that’sall tungsten, or all daylight, or more importantly, that perfect mix of the 2 that suddenly makes your shotlook naturally lit. Blender makes location lighting intuitive, just dial it ‘till it’s right.

The lamphead’s compact size (4 x 3 x 3”) makes it small enough to fit on a camera-top stud, or easilyheld on a pistol grip, or compact stand. It can be powered by popular video camera batteries, or
its own compact AC supply. Blender™ comes with a selection of hard plastic front diffusers for softening & diffusing the mixed output. 1 & 2 light packs in carry bags are available, as well as a more traditional
1 light kit. Originally designed by videographer Tom Robotham, the Lowel Blender is the location light your HD camera has been waiting for.

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Phase One released Capture One 5 PRO. Known for rendering superior quality images from a wide range of pro DSLR, Mamiya and Phase One medium format cameras, Capture One PRO is now enhanced with workflow accelerators to handle large volume shoots faster. Capture One 5 PRO is the RAW converter and workflow application with the broadest tethered shooting support, not only for Phase One digital backs, but also for DSLRs from Canon and Nikon. This version adds support for additional DSLR models and RAW file support for selected Leaf digital backs.

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Lensbaby announced the addition of the new Fisheye Optic and Soft Focus Optic to the Lensbaby Optic Swap System. Each new optic is available for use with the Lensbaby Composer and Muse.  In addition, the Soft Focus Optic is compatible with the Lensbaby Control Freak.

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Leaf Imaging announced the Leaf Aptus-II 5 medium format digital camera back. The company’s newest addition to the Leaf Aptus-II product family, the Leaf Aptus-II 5 features a resolution of 22 MP.  At a capture rate of 0.9 seconds per frame, it represents the family’s fastest digital back. The Leaf Aptus-II series of digital backs offers professional photographers the speed, image quality and flexibility to allow their work to keep pace with their imagination. Leaf Aptus-II series backs offer the largest display, 3.5” (6x7 cm), and only touch screen controls in the medium format market. The Leaf Aptus-II 5 camera back is priced at $7,995. The Phase One 645AF camera body with 80 mm lens is available for an additional $2,000.  All equipment can be ordered now from Leaf dealers (for the dealer nearest you, please see: http://www.leaf-photography.com/findaleaf_nam.asp).

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Gitzo unveiled the company’s revamped Basalt Collection which features innovations in both the construction and design of the line.

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Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) introduced Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta software for Macintosh and Windows, a public preview of new and improved functionality to be delivered in the next major release. Available as a free download on Adobe Labs, Lightroom 3 beta delivers a preview of new tools that will be in Lightroom 3, including more intuitive importing, unparalleled noise reduction and sharpening tools, enhanced slideshow capabilities and direct publishing to online photo sharing sites like Flickr. Adobe encourages photographers to test this early selection of new features and provide the product team with their feedback.

“We are extremely fortunate that a strong community of photographers have rallied around Lightroom, helping to evolve the application and making it a meaningful part of their photographic workflows,” said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Professional Digital Imaging at Adobe. “While we’re still hard at work on Lightroom 3, we recognize the value our customers bring to the development process and want their input so we can deliver the best final product possible.”

Lightroom 3 beta has been completely redesigned with under-the-hood efficiencies to better handle growing image libraries and improve responsiveness with a higher-quality processing engine. In the Library module, a rebuilt import system makes bringing photos into the software more intuitive. Users can easily specify the source and destination of their images, and save common processing, metadata or destination settings as easy-to-reuse presets.

The Library module also includes new capabilities to publish collections on popular photo-sharing sites. Flickr users now have direct access to their accounts from within Lightroom and can drag and drop images directly into their Photostreams. Flickr Pro account users can automatically synch their images and even view comments made on Flickr directly within the Library. This functionality can be extended to additional sites by adding them as new plug-ins once they become available.

In the Develop module, an overhauled processing engine allows users to create the highest quality images. Improved Capture Sharpening and Color Noise Reduction tools provide superior results while still preserving an image’s edge detail and contrast. A new Grain tool adds a film-style grain to images, and two new Vignette modes help photographers get a more natural look.

Lightroom 3 beta also offers advanced output options, including the ability to export slideshows as videos with audio and title screens that can be posted to video-sharing sites or optimized for mobile media. New watermarking capabilities enable photographers to embed text or graphic information directly on an image and then adjust the size, position and opacity. In addition, photographers can customize print layouts and save settings for future use, giving them refined control over their images.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta is available as a free download to anyone on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Visit to learn more and download the beta. Feedback can be submitted on the Lightroom forums: http://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom. Users also can connect with Adobe at www.facebook.com/lightroom or www.twitter.com/AdobeLR, and can add the tag #AdobeLR3beta to tweets about the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta.

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“Open your presents at Christmastime but be thankful year round for the gifts you receive.”—Lorinda Ruth Lowen

Submitted for your Secret Santa’s approval: a list of gizmos, gadgets, and gear for the digitally-minded who “have everything” but didn’t know that they really needed lots more stuff to produce that ultimate image. Use this month’s...