Photoclub Alpha

December 2, 2009 – DxO Labs is pleased to announce the immediate availability of DxO Optics Pro v5.3.6 for Mac bringing full compatibility with Apple’s latest operating system Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard, and adding RAW support for 15 new cameras:

Canon EOS 7D and PowerShot G11;
Nikon D300s and D3000;
Olympus E3 (Elite edition only), E-30, E-410, E-420, E-450, E-510, E-520 and E-620;
Sony A230, A330 and A380.
This new version for Mac also offers support for 255 new DxO Optics Modules, covering 46 cameras.

Availability and holiday season price

DxO Optics Pro v5.3.6 for Mac, both Standard and Elite editions, are immediately available from both DxO Labs’ e-store and selected resellers at an exceptional 30% discount until December 31, 2009:
Standard edition: £ 69 instead of £ 99 (or a savings of £ 30)
Elite edition: £ 139 instead of £ 199 (or a savings of £ 60)
DxO Optics Pro 6 for Mac is scheduled for release during the first quarter of 2010 and will be available as a free upgrade to customers who purchased version 5 after June 1, 2009.

www.dxo.com

Sony has announced the Alpha 500 and 550 today with an official release to all press. No press conference was held for the UK press and any advance information received has been given indivudally to journalists. There is a press event tonight in London but this is VERY specifically stated to be for trying out the new Cyber-Shot models at twilight. The official release follows.

It’s the very last word in HD picture quality, smart shooting features and stunning looks. The new flagship of Sony’s HD camcorder line-up, the Handycam® HDR-CX520VE/505VE is packed with latest innovations to help you capture better-looking video and still images, whatever you’re doing. Press release from Sony, July 7th 2009.

OnOne Software has made available an entire free download including Lite versions of 14 of their PhotoTools plug-ins for Photoshop. All you have to do to obtain the download is visit their website using the link below and provide a valid email address for verification. We have tested the entire OnOne software range – including the full PhotoTools 2 package – with excellent performance on CS4/MacOSX 10.5+.

Latest update May 7th:

Sony Style pages are starting to show this header picture, which shows three new models all sharing an unusual handgrip design and using the new lenses:

Note – the new models have handgrip sensors or appear to – maybe the nickel problem has been conquered. Also note the radical shift in position of the front control wheel and shutter release. The A380 is next to the A900, followed by the A330, and then the A230 at the end. All are smaller than the current A200-300 series. The A330 and A380 have what look like Live-View switches next to the prism, the A230 does not. This indicates that the viewing method has not changed, and we will almost certainly not get off-sensor live view or video. This does not rule out some kind of improved 720p LV of the focus screen, combined with electronically switched markings that could be turned off for recording video ‘off the groundglass’.

EDINBURGH PHOTOWORLD DAY

A Photoworld Day has been arranged for Sunday 22nd March in the premises of the Edinburgh Photographic Society at 68 Great King Street, Edinburgh. Athough primarily aimed at subscribers to Photoworld, former Minolta Club members and users of Sony digital cameras, the meeting is open to others interested in photography.

This is a very short post. I’ve been talking to a few directors of importing companies in the UK over the last few days, as people return from holidays which many in the photo industry take in early January. The word is this: while prices right now, and at Focus on Imaging 2009 Feb 22-25 show, may remain low and even be cut to liquidate existing stock, the rises which will hit us in mid-2009 will knock the wind out of you.

Duncan McEwan spoke, in his usual very steady and friendly manner, about his experience of using the Alpha 900. He showed a selection of images taken – remarkably – over a period of just 10 days preceding the event, using a 24-70mm CZ and his own 70-200mm Minolta SSM. Here is his own ’script’ for the presentation, with a small selection of the images.

Well, it looks as if the 14th August UK press conference for exciting digital camera news may not be about the Alpha 900 after all – Sony has just officially announced that some colourful little Cyber-shot models with ISO 3200 capability will be unveiled there, and no mention of the A900. Roll on September 9th!

Here’s Sony’s release on the new Cyber-shots – I apologise for leaving the hyperbolic advertising style adjectives (unusable editorially, and just a waste of words) in place:

MANY photographers habitually use layers from everything. I don’t! In fact, I try to minimise my time spent on post-processing shots for stock library sale, and work very quickly. If it needs complex setup or demands working using layers to be able to go back and change things, I’ve probably already wasted too much time. Here’s an example of an Alpha 700 shot created from two slightly different versions, and how it was done.

Photoworld 2008 #2 is now being mailed to subscribers!

Our Spring edition features -

SEASON’S BEST wishes from David and Shirley here at photoclubalpha! You know how the pursuit of photography can take over your plans? Well, we were offered a short break in Portugal (inspection visit terms, 2 hours wasted time and iron constitution to resist sales pitch) and took it up for the week before the holiday. A chance of some sunshine and different subjects for the Alpha 100 and 700! Of course, it rained so hard the entire Algarve coast was flooded, and the only sun we saw was the sunset as we landed. However, back at home, the world was in wonderland mode even as we drove back through the Lake District with the moon rising over frosty hills lit by the last pink light of the sun. The next day, Kelso was in full sunshine but -7°C and freezing fog had coated everything for three nights in pure white. So here are our Christmas cards from Kelso, courtesy of the A700, 16-80mm, and Minolta polarizer.

Here is one for all you film users in the UK –

Fujifilm Professional has announced details of a photographic competition held to celebrate the re-launch of Fujichrome Velvia 50. The winner will jet-off to Turkey on a photographic holiday-of-a-lifetime worth over £2,000.

IN 1998 Minolta published, for their 70th anniversary, a large poster featuring all the landmark cameras from their own museum and employee collections. Many of the cameras shown – all fairly small on the poster – were well used and worn examples. The original image-files for the poster, which we have archived, are of poor quality. They are Japanese inkset CMYK sharpened for pre-press, with very dark gamma. This page re-creates all the information from the original poster, complete with the photographs. This page has been updated so that each period now appears as a separate section – simply select the next page to move on after reading each one. Page 1 is 1928-39, Page 2 1940-1959, Page 3 1960-69, Page 4 1970-79, Page 5 1980-89, and Page 6 is the 1990s. If you know the period of the camera you want to see, go straight to the page.

THE appearance of press-release resolution (14Mb) images of the new Alpha – un-named but thought to be the Alpha 200 or 300 because of the product code earlier assigned to shots of prototypes at PMA – combines with reports on various forums from European Sony executives visiting Japan to suggest that the launch announcement for the new model and a range of full-frame lenses is imminent.