Photoclub Alpha

WE trialled a ZMags version of the January 08 issue of Photoworld here. We then looked at Uniflip. However, all these places want a few hundred dollars to leave a slightly adjusted Flash or Java version of a PDF we create, on their server for 12 months. The ZMags trial is now removed and after [...]

USERS of the Nikon D3 downloading the latest firmware update have found information strings referring to the D3X and listing the file sizes the forthcoming camera will produce. The sizes match the pixel count of the Sony full-frame CMOS sensor due to be used in the ‘Alpha 900′ Sony full-frame body.
Nikon sensor D3X rumour 24 [...]

London— April 2, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) today announced Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta, a public preview of new and improved functionality to be delivered in the next major release. Lightroom is the professional photographer’s essential toolbox, providing one application for managing, adjusting, and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. Lightroom 2.0 [...]

Moving a DSLR - preferably without vertical grip because of the further imbalance created - to portrait format shooting on a small tripod ballhead produces an unstable arrangement where the head is stressed. The camera may sag unless the head is tightened, and if the lens is heavy, it may also unscrew itself from the [...]

Apple’s Aperture 2.0 is a tedious program to test, with all its creation of ‘projects’ and ‘libraries’, ‘albums’, ‘vaults’ and nonstandard GUI, and it isn’t fast in processing files or passing them to Photoshop (which it does in 16-bit form, just another step to reverse before saving as far as I’m concerned). However, it’s handling [...]

The latest full release - no longer Beta, and accepting previous C1 Pro activation keys for unlimited access but otherwise now on 30-day trial - of Capture One v4 now handles Sony Alpha 700 raw files and transforms high ISO rendering in comparison to the industry standard Adobe Camera Raw.
ACR raw .ARW Capture One C1 [...]

New photo website Myelephantbites.com offers the chance to turn digital photographs into animated movies by combining digital images with sound, words and special effects. The site would like to reward Photoworld readers with complimentary trials forthe first 1,000 readers. We have now extended that offer to Photoclubalpha website visitors, as we said we would [...]

After reading Andrea Nivini’s article in Italian Tutti Fotografi, December 2007, which launches an attack on Adobe’s Camera Raw plug-in and its handling of many camera types - but specifically, the Sony Alpha 700 - I decided to check out whether the December 5th release, ACR 4.3.1, fixed the problems.
raw camera Sony A700 Alpha 700 [...]

THE question is being asked, will the Alpha 700 match the rich colour rendering of the Konica Minolta 7D and 5D? These cameras had identical colour profiles, and were in turn very similar to the Dimage A1 and A2. The Sony Alpha 100 proved very different. Here’s my best attempt to explain why.

TEMPORARY website pages on the afternoon (GMT) of September 5th managed to leak the entire specification sheet and several new PR images of the advanced amateur Alpha model, along with its name - the Alpha 700. You wouldn’t pick a wife or husband on the basis of their on-paper specification, so remember, the [...]

Marrutt Digital has introduced a range of luxurious leather-look professional Photobooks designed for professional photographers to produce Photobooks in-house in minutes, at a fraction of the cost of outsourcing using their own inkjet prints. They are exclusive to Marrutt, who are United Kingdom distributors for Lyson papers and Lysonic inks.

This review from the Summer 2007 edition of Photoworld has been expanded here, and covers the Remote Release IR-1n kit along with third party remote triggers and flash synchronisation options for the Alpha system.
wireless remote trigger infrared slave firing cell radio cordless release shutter Dynax Alpha Sony Minolta Maxxum Konica DSLR SLR camera

I SELL digital images through Alamy, the on-line photo library. When an original piece of art is out of copyright, and displayed in public or by an owner permitting photography, the ability to get a good quality reproduction copy on the spot without lights, tripod or flash is valuable. Some 8 per cent of my [...]

9 July, 2007 - As take up of High Definition (HD) gains momentum in Europe, Sony is to launch a major Pan-European marketing campaign to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the company’s HD proposition and to educate consumers about the intricacies of HD.

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 [...]

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 [...]

There is now an excellent PDF format e-book written by Gary Friedman as a user guide, mine of information and all-round treasury of inspiration for Alpha 100 owners – see www.friedmanarchives.com for details and how to buy this either as a physical printed book, or a download. It’s nearly 400 pages but very easy to [...]

Shortly before the June 6th 2006 worldwide launch of the Sony Alpha digital SLR system the European press learned that major title editors would meet in Marrakesh for the unveiling of the Alpha 100. No-one anticipated being driven miles into the desert-like countryside of Oued Nfis for the experience of a night under canvas after [...]