Canon, Nikon, and Sony News for Apr 2011

A Lens Distortion Tool is now available on the site.
 
Similar to the other Lens Comparison Tools, the Lens Distortion Tool allows lens & setting selection and mouseover comparison with other lenses. Hit the Lens Distortion Help ("?") button for more information.
 
Most of the current Canon lenses are currently loaded into the tool. Many more lenses will be added in the near future.
 
I have been considering the addition of optional grid lines overlaid on the checkerboard result image. If you feel strongly about this possible feature, send me an email with your ideas.
 
As always, thanks for your support!

B&H has changed the expected arrival date for the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L USM Fisheye Lens from "Approx. Arrival May" to "New item - No arrival date known".

B&H is accepting Nikon D5100 preorders. When B&H accepts preorders, the product is usually expected to be in stock very soon.

ElcomSoft, the company that previously discovered a vulnerability in Canon's Original Data Security System, has now cracked Nikon's Image Authentication System. Details can be found on ElcomSoft's website.

Free upgrade to owners of Capture One 6
 
COPENHAGEN, April 28, 2011 — Phase One today released Capture One 6.2. An upgrade to the popular raw conversion and image editing software that supports both professional medium format systems and more than 170 different DSLR camera models, Capture One comprises a full digital workflow to produce beautifully detailed and richly rendered images.
 
Capture One 6.2 adds camera support for Samsung, Fuji, Ricoh, Panasonic, Canon, Sony and Nikon and for Phase One IQ180, IQ160 and IQ140, including tethered support.
 
Features and Enhancements
 
• Local Adjustments (Local adjustment of saturation and clarity; Invert local adjustments mask; Copy local adjustments mask from other layer)
• Auto sync of XMP metadata (sidecars only)
• Additional camera controls for Canon and Nikon
• Improved OpenCL and 64 bit performance
 
Camera Support
 
• Samsung NX5, NX10, NX11 and NX100
• Fuji X100
• Ricoh GR DIGITAL, GR DIGITAL II, GR DIGITAL III, GX100, GX200, GRX S10, GXR P10, GXR A12
• Phase One IQ180, IQ160, and IQ140
• Canon EOS-600D/Rebel T3i and EOS-1100D/Rebel T3 including tethered support
• Panasonic DMC-GH2 and DMC-GF2.
• Sony SLT-A55, SLT¬A33, NEX-3 and NEX-5
• Nikon D-7000 tethered support
 
Availability and Pricing
 
Capture One version 6.2 is available now; for details please see: www.phaseone.com/6
 
Capture One version 6.2 is a free upgrade to current owners of Capture One Express 6 and Capture one Pro 6. For the difference between Capture One Express and Capture One Pro, please see: www.phaseone.com/en/Software/Capture-One-Pro-6/Upgrade/Upgrade-Pro-6.aspx
 
For new customers, Capture One Pro 6.2 is available via download for 399 USD and 299 EUR through Phase One’s Online Store www.phaseone.com/store and through leading professional photography dealers worldwide. Capture One Express 6.2 is available for 129 USD and 99 EUR via www.phaseone.com/store.
 
Capture One Pro 6 and Express 6 are paid upgrades to previous versions of Capture One. Upgrade prices start at 69 USD and 49 EUR, respectively.
 
Capture Pilot™ is a free app from the Apple store for Capture One Pro. More information is available here: www.phaseone.com/en/software/capture-one-pro-6/about/capture%20pilot.aspx

- TOKYO, Japan, April 28, 2011 -
 
Seiko Epson Corporation ("Epson", TSE: 6724) today announced it would book extraordinary losses for the fourth quarter (January 1 to March 31, 2011) of the year ending March 31, 2011.
 
1. Details of extraordinary losses
 
(1) Loss on disaster
 
Epson will book on a consolidated base extraordinary losses of 4,755 million yen associated with the earthquake that struck the Tohoku area of Japan.
 
(2) Business structure improvement expenses
 
Epson will book on a consolidated base extraordinary losses of 4,566 million yen associated with the termination of the small- and medium-sized displays business.
 
2. Impact on business results
 
The aforementioned extraordinary losses have been reflected in the business results for the full year ended March 2011 announced today. For details, please read the "Consolidated Results for Year Ended March 31 2011."
 
Epson Consolidated Results for Year Ended March 31, 2011

Tamron has posted 1Q 2011 financial fesults.

With $25,000 worth of prizes on the line, the Foba Combitube Photo Competition is an eye-catcher.
 
If you do not already own the Combitube gear, cost of entry is not low. Check out the cool Foba Combitubes at B&H.

DxO Labs has added 53 new lens / camera combinations to the DxO Optics Modules library, providing supports for Canon, Samyang, Sigma, Sony, and Tamron lenses, for numerous Canon, Nikon, and Sony cameras.
 
Visit this page to see the new combinations.
 
DxO Optics Pro is available at B&H.

B&H has the new Canon Speedlite 320EX in stock.

Canon U.S.A.’s Live Learning events are in full swing for the Spring season, highlighted by the upcoming “Deconstructing the Story” workshops for professional and advanced cinematographers, photographers and videographers. These three day, hands-on sessions provide intensive learning opportunities designed to demonstrate improved techniques for shooting successful video projects with Canon EOS HD DSLR cameras. During the opening day, foundations of EOS cine-style production techniques are taught in intimate student breakout groups. That’s followed by a full day of student shooting in a 24-hour film festival style, topped off by a final day of editing; all provided from the experts of the renowned stillmotion™ team, a group of leading innovators in the use of EOS HD video products, along with Canon professional market representatives.
 
Designed for professional and advanced EOS HD DSLR users, participants of these workshops will receive instruction from stillmotion assisted by Canon team members. As part of the workshops, students will have the opportunity to work with an assortment of Canon camera bodies and lenses along with the supporting production accessories to make the experience as impactful as possible. Students will work in small groups immersing themselves in each aspect of video production with EOS while receiving guidance on the technical and creative aspects to ensure the final result is worthy of new client interest.
 
The 2011 schedule for the “Deconstructing the Story” workshops is as follows:
 
Orlando: May 24th to May 26th
Cincinnati: May 31st to June 2nd
New York: June 7th to June 9th
Austin: June 21st to June 23th
Seattle: June 28th to June 30th
 
For more information on these workshops please visit: www.usa.canon.com/story

Camera Raw 6.4 Update
 
This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original one that was installed with Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and Adobe Premiere Elements 9 software. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.
 
English: Windows | Macintosh
 
Lightroom 3.4 update
 
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.4 update includes these enhancements:
 
• Additional camera support for several new camera models including the Canon Rebel T3i, Nikon D5100 and Fuji FinePix X100
 
• Corrections for issues introduced in previous versions of Lightroom 3
 
English: Windows | Macintosh
 
 
Lightroom Journal has a list of fixes and new support found in the updates.

DNG Codec preview 3 — A codec that enables Windows Vista users to view DNG files in the Windows Explorer and Photo Gallery.
 
DNG Profile Editor preview 3 — A new color rendering package that contains the DNG 1.2 spec, camera profiles, and a utility to edit them.
 
Adobe Lens Profile Creator preview 3 — A utility that enables the easy creation of lens profiles for use in the Photoshop family of products.

The Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S Nikkor Lens that previously made a brief appearance on Nikon USA's website has been formally announced.
 
This very reasonably-priced lens should be a big hit - preorder now at Adorama or Amazon.com.

iFixit.com has posted a Nikon D5100 Teardown. For those of you who still think everything needs to be taken apart, this page is for you. :)

Canon has posted its 1Q 2011 financial results.
 
You may find the presentation material more interesting.

The EOS 7D firmware update first made available last week by Canon UK, then removed, is now available again.
 
Canon USA has posted EOS 7D firmware version 1.2.5. Canon UK also has it available once more: Mac OS X | Windows
 
Firmware Version 1.2.5 incorporates the following improvements and fixes.
 
1. Fixed a rare phenomenon in which there were rare cases where movie files taken could not be opened when repeatedly shooting movies with specific CF cards.
 
2. Fixed a rare phenomenon in which there were cases where "Err 02" appeared when repeatedly shooting still images with specific CF cards.
 
3. Fixed a phenomenon that occurred when using high-capacity (32 GB or greater) CF cards: If either a CF card with only a little available space remaining or the battery was removed and then reinserted into the camera, and then the user attempted to start shooting movies immediately, shooting would stop.
 
4. Improved the writing/reading speeds when using UDMA 7-compatible CF cards.
 
5. Fixed a phenomenon that occurred when custom function C.Fn 4-1 was set to assign IS start to the AF stop button on the lens: When used with lenses that do not have an AF stop button, the IS function would not work.
 
6. Corrected some mistakes in the menu screens displayed in Arabic and Portuguese. (This applies to models in overseas markets. The models for the Japanese market do not display those languages.)
 
(thanks Paul)

Nikon has posted D7000 Firmware Update 1.02 (USA) / (Europe).
 
Modifications enabled with this firmware upgrade, release date April 25, 2011
 
• Noise reduction processing is now performed with shutter speeds slower than 1 s (previously 8 s) when On is selected for Long Exp. NR in order to reduce the bright spots that occur with shooting of still images at slow shutter speeds.
 
• An issue that prevented the opening of movies recorded with the D7000 in certain movie editing software applications has been resolved.
 
• When the camera was connected to a television via the A/V cable and a movie was played back, playback was normal the first time but when the movie was played two or more times, the sound was played back at extremely low volume and seemed to play intermittently. This issue has been resolved.
 
• When white balance for RAW images created using the camera’s image overlay function was fine tuned with Capture NX 2 or ViewNX 2, the images acquired a magenta cast. This issue has been resolved.
 
• An issue that caused 0.00” to be displayed for heading information when the GP-1 GPS unit was connected to the camera has been resolved so that ---.-- is now displayed.
 
• When Viewfinder virtual horizon was the role assigned to the Fn button or the preview button and the applicable button was pressed, errors in the virtual horizon indicator were displayed. This issue has been resolved.
 
• The following errors in Help displays have been resolved.
 
“Maximum sensitivity” help was displayed for shooting menu>ISO sensitivity settings>On or Off help.
 
German help displayed “Select focus priority for AF-S mode.” for Custom Settings>a1: AF-C priority selection help .

According to my Dell rep:
 
"Adobe announced the release of the Creative Suite 5.5 products on April, 11th. As a result of the new release, pricing for these products is increasing anywhere from 6% - 19%. Now is a great opportunity to take advantage of the current CS 5.0 pricing and receive a free upgrade* to CS5.5 once it starts shipping in early May. The last day to place a CS5.0 order is April 27th so don’t wait!"
 
If one of the Adobe CS5 products is on your to-buy list, now sounds like the right time to buy it. Get your Adobe software at B&H, Adorama, Amazon.com or Adobe.
 
*Note: I have not found confirmation regarding the free upgrade.
 
Update From Bob at Digital Illusion, Inc.:
 
"The cutoff date for the free upgrade from CS5 to CS5.5 is March 10, 2011.
 
If CS5 or an upgrade to CS5 is purchased on or after March 10, 2011, you can request the free upgrade to CS5.5 from Adobe.
 
I talked to Adobe customer service and was given this date. However if you have been an Adobe software user for years and missed the cutoff by a few days, like I did, they may grant you an exception and give you the free upgrade. I purchased my upgrade to CS5 on April 28 but was granted a free upgrade to CS5.5 after talking to Adobe customer service."

Redrock Micro has released the micro3D Stereoscopic Rig (press release).

An outdoor image quality comparison between four 85mm lenses has been added to the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens Review page.
 
Many product images have also been added to this page. I hope to get the full review completed in the near future.

Sigma has announced that the Sigma APO 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Lens in Canon mount is "... scheduled to start shipping this month."
 
Preorder the new Sigma 120-300 OS at Amazon.com and Adorama.

The Nikon D5100 Owners Manual is now available for download.

"Hone your marketing approach & improve your business prospects with the free e-book; 500+ buyers' insights!"
 
Fill in minimal contact information and receive PhotoShelter's What Buyers Want from Photographers: 2011 Survey via email.

Adobe has posted a Photoshop CS5 Performance White Paper designed to maximize your CS5 experience.