Battle of the Full-Frame Titans

Well, it's Photokina time again, as I mentioned the other day, and the titans of DSLRs, Nikon and Canon, are duking it out one more time. This time it's for an "entry" level full-frame DSLR. For Nikon, they have introduced the D600, and for Canon, they are introducing the D6. As said, both have full-frame sensors with the D600 at 24 MP and the 6D at 20 MP. Both have top shutter speeds of 1/4000 of a second. And both will sell around $2100 without a lens. Both cameras are fairly comparable to one another and will provide a needed alternative to higher priced models from Nikon and Canon.

As for how they differ, there are a few differences. The Nikon D600 has a built-in flash, 100% viewing, AF Assist Light, dual axis electronic levels, 39 AF points with 9 cross-type sensors, and an ISO range of 50 to 25,600. The Canon 6D will have no flash, 97% viewing, and 11 AF sensors with only 1 Cross type sensor. However the 6D will have an ISO range of 50 to 102.400, built-in WiFi and GPS, and will meter down to -3EV (the D600 will only measure down to -1EV). And the Canon 6D is about 100 grams lighter than the Nikon D600.

It's good to have options, so both cameras are very welcome.

Color Pioneer Charles Cushman

"Hobos" by Charles Cushman

National Public Radio has done a story on early color photographer Charles Cushman, who began documenting his life and the world around him with slide film in 1938 and then continued for 30 more years. His story is an interesting one that captures the rise of color photography for the amateur photographer. NPR created a multimedia presentation on Cushman that you can see and hear here. Check it out. It's worth your time.

New Sony Cameras Announced, plus a couple of other cameras!

Just before Photokina, the world's largest photographic trade-show, opens, Sony has announced several new cameras. The most interesting of the bunch is the RX-1, a full-frame (35mm sensor) compact camera with a fixed 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss Sonnar T lens. It views through the LCD screen on the back, but there will be optional optical finders and clip-on LCD monitors that you'll be able to attach to it. It has a 24 MP sensor and the ISO can be set anywhere from 50 to 102,400 and will be able to shoot at 5 frames per second. Like the Fuji X-100, this camera is aimed at the Henri Cartier-Bresson crowd or at least those photographers who tend toward street shooting and spontaneous snapshooting. And I don't mean to denigrate that term. I imagine RX-1 will be small, discrete, and produce very fine images, though the asking price around $2800 will put this camera out of the reach of a lot of photographers. Seems kind of high for basically a point-and-shoot pocket digicam, but I'm looking forward to checking it out. It is beautiful.

The next camera from Sony shares the same 24 MP full-frame sensor and that is the SLT-A99. Like the recent SLR offerings from Sony, this will not have an optical viewfinder, but will use an internal, electronic, high-resolution XGA OLED Tru-Finder with 100% coverage. Most folks are highly satisfied with the new Sony viewing systems. It will also use the Translucent Mirror System, where the mirror stays locked in the down position and you shoot through the semi-transparent mirror when photographing. The SLT-A99 will sell around $2700 for the body by itself.

Up next is the NEX-6, which is placed in the NEX line of cameras between the top of the line NEX-7 and the amateur-oriented NEX-5R. So it has an built-in EVF viewfinder in addition to the rear-screen LCD and uses a 16 MP sensor, and it will be priced somewhere between the two cameras, as well. It should sell for less than a $1000 for the body and the basic 16-50mm zoom lens.

And last, but not least, is the NEX-VG900 interchangeable lens video camera with a 24 MP full-frame 35mm CMOS APS-C sensor. It will use the standard Sony A-mount lenses from its SLR line and the body will sell for around $3,300. I think this is the first dedicated video camera with this large a sensor, though I could be wrong about that. This should be of interest to filmmakers. They are also announcing another video camera, the NEX-VG30, which uses the smaller APS-C 16 MP sensor and their E-mount lenses. The VG30 body will sell for about $1800.

And wrapping up the good news today, Hasselblad has a new camera to announce, the H5D. You'll be able to get it in 40, 50, and 60 MP single-shot versions, or even up to a 200 MP multi-shot version. And the price will be too high. Also Fuji is announcing the X-E1, another interchangeable lens camera which uses the same lenses as the X-Pro1, but only has the internal electronic viewfinder and not the hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder of the X-Pro1. But the X-E1 is sleek and beautiful and should be a picture-taking machine for around $1000 for the body and $1400 with the new 18-55mm f/2.8 lens. Fuji is definitely on a roll these days.

Photojournalists Embrace Instagram

A Mound of Sugar in Brazil by Ed Kashi

The British Journal of Photography has published an interesting article written by Olivier Laurent called, "The New Economics of Photojournalism: The rise of Instagram." You can and should read it here.

With around 80 million users around the world, Instagram for iPhone and Android is one of the biggest and most successful venues for sharing photographs with other people. So it's no surprise that even working photojournalists are now using it as a social media tool to reach new viewers and maintain connection to their existing audiences as a way of reinforcing themselves as a brand. And for breaking news, it's also one of the fastest ways to get your images out to the world in real time as the events happen. This is why it's become important to photojournalism.

Even though Instagram has been criticized by a lot of people, supposedly because the built-in instant effects cheapen photography as a whole, I guess I would say to those critics, "Lighten up." The effects give the images a certain recognizable look, but I find them to be kind of nice. Of course, not every effect works with every image, but that's the benefit of using apps like this. It takes no time at all to try out all the different effects on your image, to see how they look, and then upload them to Facebook or Twitter or whatever. It's all fast and easy. Nearly instant to the point that it almost seems like the logical conclusion to the idea behind Polaroid cameras and films. Instant photographic gratification. And that sounds perfectly fine to me.

GIMP Magazine Debuts!

Sometimes it seems as if Photoshop is the only game in town, when it comes to photo/image manipulation software, but that never has been true. GIMP is an alternative to Photoshop that has garnered quite a few loyal fans. However, there is one major difference. Whereas you have to spend several hundred dollars to pick up a copy of Photoshop, GIMP is free to download. You see, GIMP is open source software and in the true spirit of the open source mindset, it doesn't cost anything. And it offers much of the same functionality that Photoshop is known for. Mind you, Photoshop offers a lot more options for doing everything, but most folks who use GIMP are more than happy with it.

Now there is going to be a GIMP users magazine and like the software itself, it will be free to download in PDF form. The first issue will be available September 5th and you can find it here. Starting with the second issue, they plan to offer a print version as well.

If you are interested in trying out GIMP software, check it out here. This is also a good place to learn more about it.

A New Paradigm for Photography?

So Nikon has announced a new point-and-shoot digicam, the Coolpix S800c. What sets it apart and why it possibly signals a significant change in photography is the fact that is the first, at least as far as I know, Android-powered camera. Android, as in the mobile phone operating system. So the S800c will have Wi-Fi, GPS, full HD-video, a 16 MP sensor, and a 10X optical zoom (25-250mm equivalent) and you will be able to upload instantly all your stills and videos to the social media platform of your choice. I  would assume, though I could be wrong, that you can also run Instagram and other similar apps on this camera, too. It will be priced around $350.00.

Through most of the history of still photography, the end product has always been physical prints on paper. With the rise of social media, more people are interested in posting their images online and never seeing prints of their photos. This camera addresses this change and I expect more cameras will follow suit. For myself, most of my casual, everyday photos are done with my Droid phone through Instagram and posted on Instagram (Hermonator), Facebook, and Twitter (Hermonator56). Sharing photos through social media is where the medium is going and Nikon is smart to give us a camera that will handle it. Good job, Nikon.

UPDATE: Samsung is rumored to be working on a Galaxy-based camera, which uses the Android OS. Since Photokina is this year, there's a chance it might debut at the show. I'm sure we'll see more of these cameras.

Skin Smoothing Photoshop Tutorial

Photoshop Roadmap has published a video tutorial from photographer Lee Varis. You can watch the video here. It follows an unusual, but straightforward technique for smoothing skin tones. As these types of techniques go, this one is simpler than some, but maybe not as useful for handling extremely rough complexions. Varis recommends it for portraits that need only a subtle smoothing of the skin tones. It's worth checking out.