Canon and Sony News for Nov 2013 (Page 4)

From Nikon:

Precautions

• This updater will update Camera Control Pro 2.13.0 or later to 2.16.0.
• You must have Camera Control Pro 2.13.0 or later installed to perform this update.
• It may be necessary to enter your product key code (s) during installation. Please have your product key code(s) available for installation.
• You may be required to enter your computer's administrator password to use this installer. Be sure to have that information available.

Modifications enabled with version 2.16.0
Modifications that apply to both the Windows and Macintosh versions

• Support for the Nikon D5300 and the Df has been added.

Download
Camera Control Pro 2.16.0 - Windows | Macintosh

From TriggerTrap:

Redsnap is an infinitely expandable camera trigger, making high-speed, camera trap, and timelapse photography affordable for everyone.

Triggertrap Redsnap is one of the fastest, easiest to use, and most affordable high-speed flash- and camera triggers money can't yet buy. With your help, this Kickstarter campaign will change the 'money can't buy' side of things.

Triggertrap Redsnap uses interchangeable sensor modules that you can snap on when you need them, and tuck away in your camera bag when you don't. It has three outputs, so you can hook up three cameras, three flashes, or a combination of both. Powered by two AA batteries, it can keep your timelapse running for months.

Triggertrap Redsnap is modular, so you can build your own perfect triggering solution. Capturing wildlife? Snap on the PIR sensor. Want to catch a speeding bullet in flight? You’ll need the Redsnap laser module. Creating a timelapse of a huge DIY project over a long period of time? Triggertrap Redsnap has you covered.

Check out the TriggerTrap's Redsnap on Kickstarter.

Not long ago, I referenced taking "two of the world's best wide angle lenses" with me to Ricketts Glen State Park. The sample picture I shared was taken with the Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II Tilt-Shift Lens, but I did not address the other lens I was referring to.

As you may have now deduced, the Zeiss ZE 15 was indeed that lens. This awesome lens is now my primary ultra-wide angle lens when AF or a range of focal lengths is not required.

Check out the Zeiss 15mm f/2.8 Distagon T* ZE Lens Review.

Nikon has updated ViewNX and Capture NX for compatibility with the D5300 and Df cameras. More detail below.

From Nikon:

View NX v2.8.2
Modifications enabled with version 2.8.2:

• Support for the D5300 and the Df has been added.

Download:
View NX v2.8.2 - Windows 32bit | Windows 64bit | Macintosh

Capture NX v2.4.5
Modifications enabled with 2.4.5

• Support for RAW images captured with the D5300 and the Df has been added.
• The Better Quality 2012 option under Noise Reduction in the Camera Settings portion of the Develop section in the Edit List palette has been changed to Better Quality 2013.
  Applicable from this version, Intensity and Sharpness can now be adjusted separately for both Luminance and Color. Therefore, when images to which Better Quality 2012 was applied with Capture NX 2 Ver. 2.4.4 or earlier are opened in Capture NX 2 Ver. 2.4.5, the effects of Noise Reduction adjustment may change.

Download:
Capture NX v2.4.5 - Windows | Macintosh

From Canon:

TOKYO, Japan, November 12, 2013 — Canon Inc. today announced that the EOS-1D C digital SLR camera, part of the company’s Cinema EOS System lineup of digital cinematography products, has been independently tested in accordance with European Broadcasting Union (EBU)1 standards for HD content acquisition.2 The tests found that the EOS-1D C is the first digital SLR camera to satisfy the stringent testing criteria for HD production.

Results indicated that the EOS-1D C provides “exceptional” HD resolution from a 4K source with “very low” aliasing, and “good” color performance and motion portrayal. The test results also confirmed that the EOS-1D C camera system and its imaging performance comply with the recommended specification for inclusion in HD Tier 1 for HD production.3

A new free-of-charge firmware update for the EOS-1D C to be made available on November 12 will enable the camera to correct for insufficient peripheral illumination when outfitted with supporting EF Cinema Lenses4 and make possible audio line input.

Additionally, an enhanced version of the EOS-1D C’s dedicated EOS MOVIE Utility software for Macintosh5 and Windows,6 scheduled to be made available free of charge in late December, adds a Mac-version video playback function and the ability to capture consecutive still images from a video file.

Canon will continue striving to enhance the functionality of its Cinema EOS System, contributing to further expanding the realm of visual expression and the development of cinematic culture.

Adorama carries the Canon EOS-1D C Cinema Camera.

by Fábio Pereira Bernardino

"After a full day of activities, a friend insisted that we take a night tour of the Iguazú National Park – a tour that only happens during full moon nights.

Arriving at the falls, everybody was looking for the best place to take their photos. Two or three people had tripods, but I had decided not to bring mine. I only had my Canon 50D and EF-S 10-22mm lens. The floor of the viewing platform was slippery; everyone was having a hard time trying to position themselves because of all the people wanting the best view possible. For a tripod, the platform did not inspire much confidence in stability, either, because it wobbled with the every viewer’s movements.

As I only had the camera it was simply a matter of being the closest to the handrail, resting the camera over it and trying to steady it throughout some long exposures at high ISOs. Trial and error allowed me to find the exposure I was looking for.

To get the picture, I had to battle the slippery conditions, the crowd of people, an unsteady platform and the lack of ambient light. In the end, I was happy with the picture I got!"

EXIF:
Canon EOS 50D
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
10mm, f/4.5, ISO 1600, 4 sec

Thanks Fábio for sending in your Most Challenging Shot story! If you'd like to share your Most Challenging Shot, email us at info@the-digital-picture.com with "My Most Challenging Shot" as the subject.

We would also like to congratulate Fábio for recently taking 1st place in the nature category of the Ambiente Imagens Dispersas 2013 Photography Competition!

The Nikon Blog has posted an interview with immersive photographer Henry Stuart. The article is interesting enough, but the excerpt below made me laugh out loud:

And what’s the most unusual job you’ve ever done?

The weirdest must be taking the 360° image of Raja, a Komodo dragon at London Zoo. I wasn’t allowed to enter the enclosure – these are big, dangerous predators – so I had to teach the head keeper how to use my D800. He went in there armed with a stick, and bottle of fish juice and blood which he scattered around to tempt Raja out into the open.

Just as we’d finally gotten the shot, Raja started to take a huge interest in the camera and tried to run off with it. The keeper managed to rescue it by hooking the strap on the end of his stick, and then Raja started to chase him round the pond. So there was this poor guy, fish-juice bottle in one hand, D800 dangling from the stick in the other, with the Komodo dragon in hot pursuit… When he finally got out and I got my camera back, the smell from where it had been licked was disgusting. I wasn’t allowed to leave the zoo until the strap had been boil-washed and my D800 had been completely swabbed down and disinfected. I could still smell that saliva on it two months later!

See the entire article at the Nikon Blog.

A few days ago Canon Korea garnered some attention for a teaser page they posted hinting at an upcoming announcement.

It looks like Canon Japan has let the cat out of the bag. A teaser video found on Canon Japan's Facebook Page bluntly states, "White Kiss Debut!"

In Japan, the Canon EOS Rebels are known as Kiss cameras. ;-)

This is The-Digital-Picture.com's Weekend Recap for the week ending November 9th, 2013.

In the news...

On Tuesday, Nikon finally announced their retro-styled full-frame camera – the 16.2 megapixel Df, along with a redesigned 50mm f/1.8 special edition lens. The Df combines design elements inspired by Nikon’s classic “F” series with modern technology borrowed from the D4. The camera features a robust design with mechanical dials for ISO, shutter speed, and exposure compensation. The Df will hit the shelves later this month with an MSRP of $2,749.95 (body only) or right at three grand for the camera & 50mm f/1.8 SE lens kit.

Also on Tuesday, Profoto announced their TTL enabled, battery-powered and completely cordless off-camera flash – the B1. The B1’s battery will give you up to 220 full-power (500 watt-second) flashes from a single charge and recycles in less than 2 seconds. The B1 will be available in December for a suggested retail price of $1,995.00.

On Thursday, Tamron announced the development of its SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD lens. The lens features an optical construction of 20 elements in 13 groups with 3 Low Dispersion glass elements, a compact design, and a redesigned tripod mount. Unfortunately, the release date and price are as of yet, unknown.

On Friday, we posted a screenshot of Canon Korea’s teaser page and asked – what do you think it is? So far, most people believe the soon-to-be-announced camera is a white Rebel-series camera. We probably won’t have to wait much longer to find out…

In site news and reviews...

On Wednesday, we asked for your most challenging shot stories. We want to know what challenges you faced when capturing your toughest shot.

Our first visitor-submitted challenging shot story was posted the following day and involved the complexities of shooting a Tesla machine and theatre performance.

And, for our deal of the week…

On Friday, we posted a deal from DigitalRev where you could get Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens for $769.00. That’s a $130.00 savings off the normal retail price.

This has been the The-Digital-Picture.com’s Weekend Recap. Thanks for listening, and as always, happy shooting!

Adobe has just realeased Photoshop Camera Raw 8.3 Release Candidate for CS6 and Creative Cloud.

New Camera Support for CS6 & CC

• Canon PowerShot S120
• Nikon 1 AW1
• Nikon Coolpix P7800
• Nikon D610
• Nikon D5300 (*)

* Denotes preliminary support

New Lens Profile Support for CS6 and CC

New Features for Camera Raw 8.3 for Creative Cloud

The following new Features have been added in Camera Raw 8.3 for CC:

• Whites and Blacks now support Auto Levels-like functionality via shift-double-click on the sliders.
• Separate Auto Temperature and Auto Tint feature. Shift-double-click to invoke "auto temperature" and "auto tint" separately.
• Ability to option-click shortcut in Synchronize, New Preset, Save Settings, and Copy/Paste (Bridge) dialog boxes. Option-click a checkbox to check that box exclusively. Option-click again to toggle previous checkbox state.
• Set the background color of the work area. Context-click outside the image in the work area to select a background color from a popup menu.

Download
Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 8.3 RC for CS6
Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 8.3 RC for CC

Adorama carries Adobe Photoshop CS6. You can sign up for Adobe Creative Cloud on the Adobe Website.

From Adobe:

Welcome to the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.3 release candidate.

A “release candidate” label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all of our customers.

The Lightroom team would like the community to help verify the quality of this update through normal usage as this will ensure that the application is tested on a diversity of hardware and software configurations not available internally at Adobe.

New Camera Support

• Canon PowerShot S120
• Nikon 1 AW1
• Nikon Coolpix P7800
• Nikon D610
• Nikon D5300 (*)

* Denotes preliminary support

New Lens Profile Support

Fixed Issues

• Issues when upgrading catalog from previous versions of Lightroom.
• Incorrect photos are displayed after switching away from a Publish Collection.
• Catalog optimization did not finish, and was not optimizing the catalog
• Feather of clone spots is set to 0 after upgrading catalog to Lightroom 5.
• Auto White Balance settings are not saved to Snapshots.
• Sony 18-55mm lens is detected as the Hasselblad 18-55mm lens for lens correction.
• Increased Update Spot Removal history steps when in Before and After view.
• Slideshows start playing automatically even when the Manual Slideshow option is enabled.
• Video playback stops when dragging on the scrubber.
• Errors when publishing photos to Flickr through the Publish Service.
• Option + drag on Edit Pin behavior is functioning incorrectly.
• Black border appears around the exported slideshow video.
• Catalog containing images processed with PV2003 were adding a post-crop vignette when catalog upgraded to Lightroom 5.
• Pressing the “Reset” button while holding down the Shift key caused Lightroom to exit abruptly.
• Output Sharpening and Noise Reduction were not applied to exported images that were resized to less than 1/3 of the original image size.
• The Esc key did not exit the slideshow after right clicking screen with mouse during slideshow playing.
• Import dialog remained blank for folders that contain PNG files with XMP sidecars.
• Metadata panel displayed incorrect information after modifying published photo. Please note that this only occurred when metadata was changed after the photo was published.

F.A.Qs

Can Lightroom 5.3 Release Candidate be installed alongside Lightroom 5?
By default, the Lightroom 5.3 Release Candidate for both Windows and Mac will remove or overwrite your existing Lightroom 5 installation. If you wish to return to Lightroom 5 after installing Lightroom 5.3, simply reinstall Lightroom 5 from your original download after uninstalling Lightroom 5.3 Release Candidate.

Both versions of the application share the same catalog format allowing your catalogs to be opened by either version without complications

When will the Lightroom 5.3 release candidate expire?
The Lightroom 5.3 release candidate will expire on December 31, 2013.

Will there be an upgrade charge for the final Lightroom 5.3 release?
No, Lightroom 5.3 will be a free update for all current Lightroom 5 customers.

Will additional camera or lens support be available in the final release?
It is possible that additional cameras or lenses will be supported in the final release.

Download
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.3 Release Candidate

Adorama carries Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.

Canon Korea has a teaser page hinting at an announcement coming this month.

What do you think it is?

Take a guess and let us know on our Facebook Page.

Canon Korea has posted a teaser shot that seems to hint at an announcement event in the near future. It certainly looks like a DSLR - but only time will tell.

From RØDE:

Inspired by the award winning NT5, the new RØDE M5 features a ½” cardioid electret condenser capsule and is available in acoustically matched pairs.

Designed and made in Australia, the M5 exhibits low noise and has a full frequency response that makes it ideal for studio recording and live performance. The M5 is equally at home on a range of acoustic instruments, choirs, or anywhere you would employ a small diaphragm condenser microphone, either individually or as a stereo array.

A result of many years’ experience building the award-winning NT5 microphone, RØDE has succeeded in making a high-quality ‘pencil’ style permanently polarized condenser that will impress even the most demanding of artists and engineers. This matched pair has been carefully selected to ensure a variation of no more than 1dB sensitivity between the microphones. A premium foiled certificate is supplied to verify the authenticity of the pair.

The M5 is finished with RØDE’s proprietary ceramic coating which offers a sleek matt black finish, and is supplied with WS5 windshields and RM5 stand mounts.

RØDE’s Global Marketing & Sales Director, Damien Wilson, commented: “The NT5 has consistently been one of our most praised and best-selling microphones since its release almost ten years ago. As pencil condensers go it is in my opinion one of the very best in the world, however we recognised that a lot of artists want to use a RØDE small diaphragm condenser microphone but doesn’t require the superlative dynamics and versatile capsule interchange found on the NT5. The new M5 offers them an incredible sounding microphone that represents great value.”

The RØDE M5 condenser microphones will be available soon at authorized retailers.

From Nikon:

Second Quarter of the Year ending March 2014 [November 7, 2013]

• Financial Results (PDF:147KB)
• Financial and Business Data (PDF:88KB)
• Presentation Material (PDF:671KB)

Related Story

Nikon Drops Sales Forecast as High-End Camera Market Stalls (Reuters)
"TOKYO, Nov 7 - Nikon Corp cut its full-year unit sales forecast for high-end cameras for the second quarter in a row on Thursday, as a dramatic fall in demand among photography hobbyists that began last year accelerated faster than expected."