TaoSpace

Beautiful machine

At Photokina Olympus showed off the concept of their upcoming

M43 camera, as blogged about before. This truly is a thing of beauty and pretty much exactly the kind of camera I've had in my minds eye for a long time. OMG. If it works even a little bit I'll end up buying it.

In the mean time, lets all join hands and pray that Olympus ends up actually release a camera that looks like this and doesn't screw it up by adding all sorts of useless junk.

Propacts

I'm introducing a new term, I hope (perhaps in vain) people will start to use: the Propact. As in Pro Compact. This indicates cameras with a compact form factor and large sensors, such a any of the upcoming M43 (micro four thirds) cameras (Panasonic G1, etc.) as well as the original Propact, the Sigma DP1, as well as whatever Samsung ends up releasing as part of their hybrid system.

This space really is hotting up, with everybody and their dog trying to get in on the (yet to start) action. The latest compact to be added the list: The Sigma DP2. Basically a DP1 with a 41mm lens and supposedly faster operation. Not sure what I think about it though. Now that the DP1 is finally supported in Lightroom, I'll be going through my DP1 shots in earnest now. I found Sigma Photo Pro so painful that I've barely looked at the results.

I'll probably post some more in-depth thoughts about the DP1 after I've done this. That will determine whether the DP2 gets my interest or not.

DP1 support in Lightroom

The release candidate of Camera RAW 4.6 includes support for the Sigma DP1! This is a big deal and will likely allow me to make a lot of use of this compact. Nice one Adobe!

More hope...

After the initial disappointment with Panasonic's attempt at a M43 camera, 

 Olympus' Micro Four Thirds Camera sounds a good deal better. 

Also pretty neat is how close the dimensions of this camera are to my original size-up.

Here is the same size-up again, with the Olympus Concept added in.

Interesting stuff indeed, although the announcement is very thin on the details. However, with the full-frame mania going on nowadays (D700, 5D MII, A900) it is becoming clear that Four Thirds needs to find a new market for itself, if it want to remain relevant in the long run. These compact cameras are likely an attempt at doing just that. The question does become: what about Pentax? Right now they have neither a full-frame strategy nor have they announced anything in stuff "yet to be proven" space. This may not be a big deal right now, but lets hope that they're not going to be the odd one out....

Evolution

Well, here it is: The Canon 5D mark II. As widely predicted, the teaser ads did indeed herald the coming, of what is probably the most eagerly awaited Canon camera in a long time. 

The run down:

1. 21.1 Megapixel. Holy crap. More than my highest prediction.
2. 3.9 fps...the high resolution makes 5 fps impossible with a single DIGIC IV
3. Full HD video. A surprise to most I think. Everybody though Nikon had stolen a march on Canon here. Of course the 5D II is more expensive than the D90, but then its full frame sensor in gives way better depth of field control than the Nikon has.
4. True ISO 6400, that's two stops higher than the original 5D. Plus extended ISO 12800 and 25600. Puts it level with the Nikons again. 
5. Price: $2699. That's less than the D700s official price. For almost double the megapixels. Canon really knows just how much of a threat the new Nikons have become and they are reacting accordingly.  
6. Auto-ISO: Yes. Yes. Yes! Its a seemingly small thing, but it means far fewer missed shots for me.

Some strange things though: the 5d is listed as weighing 895 gr. with battery. The 5D II as 810 gr. without battery. My guess is that it will be heavier than the original.

It is also unclear what is meant by "environmental protection". Weather sealing? Why not say it if it is. Shock or impact protection perhaps? Or do they just mean overall rugged- or sturdiness? The ways of marketing are many...

The whole camera is very interesting as a product. This really isn't a small evolutionary step from the original 5d when you think about it. It has been 3 years since the launch of that camera and the changes are drastic:

1. Nearly double the megapixels: 12.8 vs. 21.1
2. DIGIC IV instead of DIGIC II. Two generations ahead.
3. 14bit vs. 12bit colour 
4. Highlight tone priority 
5. Extended ISO from 1600 to 6400, two stops 
6. Live view, which wasn't there before  
7. HD video, which wasn't there before
8. Bigger LCD, with much higher resolution 
9. etc. etc. 

Canon doesn't just want to make a splash in wider market, it wants current 5D owners to upgrade. Now. This is a big difference with the double digit models: 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, 50D. Each generation was an improvement on the previous, but not enough to get people to upgrade. 10D->30D or 20D->40D or even 50D might make sense, but not 30D->40D for instance. But then the 5D series basically skipped a generation, so all in all it isn't too surprising.

Talking of upgrading: I'd better start waiting tables in the evenings or something. Serious gadget craving is setting in...

 

On a roll

Good old Nik Sharpener Pro...It used to be the pro sharpener of choice back in the day. The company that created it, Nik Multimedia, had some other products to sell, but it was Sharpener Pro people talked about.

That was until PixelGeniuns' 3-part sharpening "workflow" called Photokit Sharpener became the new darling. Input, Creative and Output sharpening became the norm. The photographic world has not looked back.

Things became silent around Nik. A year of nothing, until out-of-the-blue Nik Multimedia became Nik Software and announced a deal with Nikon over something called "U-point" technology. Nikon was to use it as part of its new Nikon Capture NX software and in return would invest in Nik Software. U-point seemed pretty neat and intuitive, Capture NX won some awards and then things went back to being quiet around Nik again.

It would take more than a year after the initial announcements, for Nik Software release it first product based on U-point: Dfine 2.0 with selective noise reduction through U-point. It was and is a pretty decent package, but the pro's were mainly using Noiseware or Noise Ninja so it didn't make a huge splash. In retrospect one can suspect this somewhat unassuming product was merely a test-case; A simple product that could be easily be given a U-point upgrade. Since then however, Nik's been on a roll.

First tentatively, by upgrading their old colour filter product in Color Efex Pro 3.0. Then by releasing Viveza, which allows selective manipulation of colour and light. This seemed to get a lot of people interested. Then Silver Efex Pro: Black and white conversion with U-point controls. Personally I find this to be the best B&W conversion software around (just waiting until I can afford it) and it seems from the reviews that I'm not the only one.

Now finally the circle completes and Nik has released Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0 with, you guessed it, U-point to control it. In a nod to Photokit, it features Creative and Output sharpening, next to U-point. Time will tell whether it will gather a huge following, but their audience is certainly a lot bigger this time around...

All in all it is pretty serious line-up, all with the same base technology and user interface. Most of it available for Photoshop as well as Aperture and Capture NX. An amazing achievement when you think about it.

Update: Inside Aperture has a review of Sharpener Pro.

Disappointment

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 is the first M43 camera. No price or actual size information given. Still looks like an SLR and the lenses are proportionally as big. They claim it is smaller than a regular SLR, but the shape is still the same.

This isn't what I was hoping for. Pen-F or Leica-style, with a small lens. A pancake prime perhaps. Well, it could still happen. Just not from Panasonic.

Update: DPReview has a hands-on preview. Two interesting tit-bits: they kept the design "conservative" because of the Japanese market. Strange, I thought they generally are in for new and weird stuff, but OK. Secondly, the lens roadmap. Although overall lack-lustre from my perspective, one interesting thing pops out: the 20mm F1.7 to be released 2009. That would be a 40mm equivalent. There might still be hope!

Update 2: TOP has a link to picture of the real deal, with 20mm F/1.7.

iPod event: the results

OK, this was an easy one. Pretty much all the stuff show was expected. Still here's the score:

1. Upgraded Nano's ala Rose: Correct.
2. 8Gb/16Gb Nano's: Correct.
3. 2nd gen iPod Touch:
   • Device itself: Correct 
   • Same storage: Correct
   • Better battery life: Correct (probably result of 2.1 software though)
   • Pricedrop of $100 across board: almost correct. 8Gb version only get $75 price-drop. 16Gb and 32Gb get $100 as predicted.  
4. 2nd gen iPod Touch to get GPS or camera: incorrect 
5. iTunes 8: Correct 
6. 2.1 software update: 
   • Update itself: correct 
   • No cut/paste: correct 
   • Turn by turn GPS: incorrect (or at least not mentioned)  
   • Bugfixes and performance increases main thing: correct 
7. Pricedrops for iPod classic: incorrect (also missing downsizing lineup to only single size...does mean it is being phased out in my opinion though) 
8. Facts, figures, demos: possibly correct (haven't seen the quicktime of the event yet) 

Guess my predictions weren't all that bad, but then, as I said: this was an easy one.

 

Sony's punch, act II

So here are the lenses Sony is launching with the A900. 16-35 f/2.8...good. 70-400 f/4-5.6...interesting...but where is the "normal lens"? Where's the 24-75 f/2.8? Am I missing something?

Oh and I was right: they are expensive.

.

Sony's punch

The japanese giant just announced the Sony DSLR-A900. 24.6MP, full frame, 5 fps, anti-shake. The biggest news? Only $3000. Three thousand. Peanuts compared to the competition.

Downsides? Only 9 AF points. Not weather-sealed, "only" 3200 ISO with 6400 expansion. No word yet on lenses. My guess is they'll be expensive, compared to the camera. 

The money's gotta come from somewhere.

Can't wait for the reviews though...