When considering the purchase of a new lens, it is often helpful to look at your previous images and find out which cameras, focal lengths, apertures and ISO settings have been utilized most often when capturing your images.
PixStics is an online EXIF analyzer that utilizes HTML5 (available in Mozilla Firefox / Google Chrome browsers) to gather information about your images and display the results in a statistical based graph. It can be a valuable tool in spotting trends in your own shooting style and providing valuable information when determining how useful a new lens will be.
From the PixStics website:
PixStics is designed to answer most of the commons questions you may have about what camera settings and equipment you use the most and how that relates to buying new gear or improving your technique. It does this by providing a statistical based graph comparing any combination of one or two properties from the list provided.
PixStics pulls its data from the EXIF data stored in your JPEG image files. Simply drag and drop your pictures onto the drop zone above. Results are cumulative so if you drag one set of pictures and then add some others then it will show you the statistics based off of all the selected images. If you want to start over you can refresh the page or click the "Empty EXIF Data" button. At no time is any data uploaded to the server (unless you decide to download a pdf,png,svg or jpeg representation of the chart). Everything runs on your computer using Javascript. In fact, you can even bookmark this page and access it even when you don't have an Internet connection (great for those long flights where you have nothing better to do than think about what gear you want to buy next).
PixStics makes use of HTML5 methods that are not available in all browsers. Both Chrome and Firefox support these methods and IE 10 will work once it's released as well. If the JPEG you select doesn't contain any EXIF data it will be skipped. If none of the files contain valid data then you won't get any valid results.
Just posted: Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D Review
From Nikon Europe:
We plan to test Windows versions of the following software applications for compatibility with Windows 8. We will announce our plans regarding full compatibility once testing is complete.
We do not intend to provide compatibility with the following applications.
We also do not plan to provide compatibility for other software, or for products utilizing a SCSI or serial connection.
Canon UK has posted sample images from the EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM and EF 35mm f/2 IS USM lenses.
Preorder opportunities:
Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM Lens: B&H | Adorama
Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM Lens: B&H | Adorama
Canon has released a notice announcement regarding projected dividends for the year ending December 31, 2012.
From Canon USA:
Company Receives Numerous Awards in 2012 Including a Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., November 15, 2012 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is proud to mark 2012 as another award-winning year. Customers and publications are praising Canon across various product segments for quality, innovation and customer support. The business world has taken note of Canon's dedication to environmental issues and industry-leading practices. This year, Canon was selected as one of Interbrand's 50 Best Global Green Brands 2012 (ranking number 29) while also placing among the top five companies in the computer industry on Fortune magazine's 2012 World's Most Admired Companies list.
Additional key awards and industry recognitions received by Canon include the PCMag.com Readers' Choice Award for Service and Reliability in the digital camera and printer categories for the ninth consecutive year, and for camcorders for the past two years; placement in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2012 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services Worldwide1 report; and for the fourth consecutive year, BenchmarkPortal's2 Center of Excellence certification, demonstrating Canon's dedication to providing comprehensive service and support to customers.
"We are extremely pleased to have received so many awards and industry recognitions from various industry organizations spanning product review, customer service and corporate initiatives," said Bunji Yano, senior director and general manager, Corporate Communications, Canon U.S.A. "These awards and recognitions exemplify our commitment to not only providing high-quality products and services, but also our dedication to our customers and the environment as well."
Maintaining status as an industry leader and continuing to earn accolades from the top industry publications continued throughout 2012 across all Canon product lines. As in years past, 2012 was no different for Canon cameras and lenses as honors were earned by entry-level point-and-shoot cameras up to professional DSLR and video cameras.
New for this year, Canon is extremely proud to announce that the Company will receive a 2012 Technology & Engineering Emmy® award in the category "Improvements to Large Format CMOS Imagers for Use in High Definition Broadcast Video Cameras." The CMOS image sensor debuted in the Cinema EOS system line in November 2011 and has helped bring digital cinema closer to the superb aesthetics associated with 35 mm motion picture film. The Cinema EOS line took home numerous honors including the Digital Video Black Diamond award from Digital Video Magazine and the EOS C500 4K Digital Cinema Camera won the Pick Hit award from Broadcast Engineering.
Canon's input-to-output capabilities were highlighted with awards granted to several cameras. The PowerShot G1 X digital camera won Outside magazine's Gear of the Year award and PCMag.com named the EOS Rebel T3 and T3i to their best digital cameras list. Reviewed.com, a division of USA TODAY, named the EOS-1D X DSLR camera Best Ultra High-End and Best Overall Camera and presented the Best Value System for Video award to the EOS Rebel T4i DSLR camera. Additionally, numerous Canon printers were the recipients of awards throughout 2012 including the PIXMA PRO-1 that won the Gold Award from DP Review and the PIXMA MG6220 that CNET named to their best all-in-one printers list.
Canon's line of scanners, Multifunction Printers (MFP) and Large Format Printers received awards for various products. The imageFORMULA P-215 Personal Document Scanner was the PCMag.com 2012 Editors' Choice and received the title of "best scanner" along with the CanonScan LiDE110 Color Image Scanner. The 2012 Top Products Awards from My Print Resource named 17 imagePROGRAF printers to their list including the imagePROGRAF iPF760, iPF6300S, and the iPF825 MFP, and BERTL named the Canon FAXPHONE L100 to its Best Spring Awards list. Continuing to offer consumers efficient products, the Canon imageCLASS MF5950dw (as tested with its wired interface), MF5960dn, MF8380Cdw (as tested with its wired interface) and imageRUNNER 1750 MFP were all awarded the Summer 2012 Buyers Laboratory "Outstanding Achievement in Energy Efficiency" award.
From Datacolor:
Join us for a webinar on Video and Color for Photographers
Recent DSLR cameras shoot excellent video, but there are a lot of issues to consider before jumping into the DSLR video world. This webinar outlines those considerations, to give still photographers a better idea of what is involved to enter this exciting new field. Join us, Tuesday, November 20th from 3PM-4PM EDT, as Datacolor Experts David Saffir and C. David Tobie provide an exploration of the hardware, software and knowledge involved in the move into motion, as well as some consideration of the value this can add to your work.
An interactive Q&A will take place throughout the webinar to answer any questions you may have.
One lucky webinar guest will win a free Spyder4PRO!
Title: Video and Color for Photographers
Date: Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
From Lytro:
Lytro Unveils Perspective Shift and Living Filters for New Ways to Experience Living Pictures
Mountain View, Calif. – November 15, 2012 – Lytro Inc., creator of the world’s first consumer light field camera, announced today it will unveil a new light field technology capability for the Lytro camera with Perspective Shift as well as new creative tools with Living Filters. These features will be available to customers starting December 4th via a free Lytro Desktop software update.
Perspective Shift lets Lytro photographers interactively change the point of view in a picture after it has been taken. On a computer or mobile device, viewers can move the living picture in any direction – left, right, up, down and all around. When pictures are shared to the web, Facebook and Twitter, friends can experience Perspective Shift without needing any special software. Perspective Shift also works retroactively on any light field pictures previously taken with a Lytro camera.
“By capturing the light field, the Lytro camera lets photographers achieve things that were never before possible. The first groundbreaking capability was focusing pictures after they were taken and now we are excited to offer Perspective Shift, which brings living pictures to life in an entirely new way,” said Ren Ng, founder and executive chairman of Lytro.
“The new Perspective Shift from Lytro is fun and artistic! I've had a wonderful time running around with my Lytro camera to grab little scenes and bend them into this new way of seeing living photos. The idea that you can take any little scene and make it like interactive Matrix-bullet-time is really cool," said Trey Ratcliff, renowned landscape photographer and Lytro pro-shooter team member.
In addition to Perspective Shift, Lytro announced a new way to enhance light field pictures with Living Filters. With a single click, Lytro photographers will be able to apply one of nine interactive filters to their pictures and change the look of the picture based on light field depth. Unlike traditional digital photo filters, Living Filters create additional effects as viewers interact with a picture. Living Filters is a free update to Lytro Desktop and works on all Lytro light field pictures, including retroactively.
New Living Filters:
“Having the ability to play with tiles of your living pictures while you refocus with Mosaic or to give an evening shot more drama with Film Noir will let Lytro camera owners and their friends and family have even more fun with the light field and the living pictures it creates,” said Eric Cheng, director of photography at Lytro.
To view Lytro pictures and get more information on Perspective Shift and Living Filters, visit these picture galleries:
Perspective Shift Gallery: http://pictures.lytro.com
Living Filters Gallery: https://pictures.lytro.com/lytroweb/stories/83282
The Lytro camera Learn Page: https://www.lytro.com/learn
ISO 12233 resolution chart, flare, distortion and vignetting test results are now live on the Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Lens Review page.
Obviously, these tests had to be shot with the new Canon EOS M MILC (Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera). My Canon EF-EOS M Adapter just arrived, so I'll get some direct camera comparisons online in the near future.
Photoshelter is offering a free Email Marketing for Photographers guide via email.
The-Digital-Picture.com Community Forum now supports ForumRunner (iOS / Android) as well as Tapatalk (iOS / Android) mobile apps.
From Nikon:
TOKYO - Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce that total production of NIKKOR lenses* for Nikon interchangeable lens cameras reached seventy-five million at the beginning of November 2012.
*Interchangeable lenses for Nikon SLR cameras and Nikon 1 advanced cameras with interchangeable lenses
Nikon (then Nippon Kogaku K.K.) released its first NIKKOR lens for Nikon SLR cameras, the NIKKOR-S Auto 5cm f/2, in 1959 along with its first SLR camera, the Nikon F. Since releasing that first lens many years ago and establishing the NIKKOR tradition, Nikon has expanded its lineup of interchangeable lenses, recently adding a line of interchangeable lenses for Nikon 1 cameras and bringing total production to seventy-five million.
At the end of May 2012, total production of NIKKOR lenses for Nikon SLR cameras reached seventy million. Since then, Nikon has continued to actively release new NIKKOR lenses.
In June 2012, Nikon released the compact and lightweight AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR, a normal zoom lens compatible with the Nikon FX format, offering a frequently-used range of angles of view, and support for a wide variety of photographic scenes, as well as the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, an ultra high-power zoom lens compatible with the Nikon DX format and offering a 16.7x zoom ratio. In addition, AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/4G ED VR was announced its release, the Telephoto zoom lens compatible with the Nikon FX format.
New lenses for Nikon 1, Advanced Cameras with Interchangeable Lenses, have also been released recently. In November 2011, the 1 NIKKOR 18.5mm f/1.8, an extremely light fixed focal length lens with the fastest maximum aperture of f/1.8 was released, and in September 2012, the 1 NIKKOR 11-27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 2.5x normal zoom lens was released. In the year that has passed since the October 2011 introduction of the Nikon 1 system, Nikon has released six 1 NIKKOR lenses, including a low-profile fixed focal length lens, a normal zoom lens, and a high-power zoom lens.
NIKKOR lenses are extremely popular with a wide variety of users, from beginners to professional photographers. The lineup currently consists of more than 80 types of lenses, including zoom lenses, ultra wide-angle to super telephoto lenses, and specialty fisheye, Micro, and PC-E lenses for SLR cameras, as well as 1 NIKKOR lenses for NIKON 1 cameras. Nikon will continue to actively develop and release high-performance, highly functional products that meet and exceed user expectations.
From Canon Professional Services:
Thank you for being a valued Canon Professional Services (CPS) member. We previously communicated to you that our service facility in Jamesburg, New Jersey was without power due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy. We are happy to report that the facility has recovered and is now operating at normal capacity.
Thank you for your understanding while operations were temporarily disrupted.
Canon Professional Services (CPS)
Canon U.S.A., Inc.
The Nikon COOLPIX S800c Firmware Update 1.1 is available for download: Widnows | Macintosh
From Nikon Europe:
This software is for upgrading the COOLPIX S800c firmware from v1.0 to v1.1. Verify your camera’s firmware version using the instructions below. If this latest version is already installed in your camera, you need not update the firmware.
Be sure that you have read and understand the terms of the license agreement before initiating download of this software from the links at the bottom of this page.
Modifications enabled in this version
Detailed firmware upgrade instructions here.
Canon UK is offering 2 years of interest free credit on the EOS 1D X DSLR camera and select L-series lenses.
Click here to view the eligible L-series lenses.