Is Canon following Adobe’s steps?
Canon just released their “EOS Digital Solution Disk V28.1″ software suite. As usual, it…
Some interesting products for Photographers and Filmmakers.
10 Awesome Gadgets for #Photographers and #Filmmakers.
Advice by Henry Miller
In 1932-1933, while working on what would become his first published novel, Tropic of Cancer, Miller devised and adhered to a stringent daily routine to propel his writing. Among it was this list of eleven commandments, found in Henry Miller on Writing — a fine addition to these 9 essential books on reading and writing, part of this year’s resolution to read more and write better.
Apple announces 2012 products — News Summary for busy people.
Our summary of the most relevant news at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference keynote today:
MacBook Pro
• The MacBook Pro 17″ is dead.
• The (13″ and 15″) MacBook Pro line has been updated. Some models include a 1280 x 800 pixels retina display (220 pixels per inch), Ivy Bridge processor and thinner designs (some models are as thin as the MacBook Air). The best “new” feature in my opinion is the USB 3.0, which is TEN times faster than USB 2.0.
• The 13″ MacBook Pro gets a dual-core processor.
• The 15″ gets a quad-core processor, and a GeForce GT 650M graphics card. It will take up to 16GB of RAM, has HDMI, two USB 3.0 ports (compatible with USB 2.0), two Thunderbolt ports, and the same SD card reader as before.
MacBook Air
• The MacBook Air has a USB 3.0 and bigger SSD drive (up to 512GB) which is not big enough for many professionals on the road.
Mac Pro
• After two years waiting digital retouchers, video editors, motion graphic artists, and anyone using a MacBook got a minor update; a speed bump and increases in RAM. The storage and video specs as well as USB 2.0 ports instead of USB 3.0, or Thunderbolt remain the same. Interestingly, the Mac Pro wasn’t even mentioned during the WWDC event, which makes me believe that this will be the last Mac Pro we see.
iMac
Nothing new, unfortunately. I am in the market for a new video editing station, and the lack of a new iMac is pushing me strongly towards an HP.
OS X Mountain Lion
• OS X Mountain Lion is shipping next month, and will cost $19.99. Upgrades are free for those that buy a Mac today.
• OS X Lion already integrates with Apple’s iCloud service. Another army enters the Cloud War.
• Several new apps including Messages, Reminders, and Notes.
• There’s a new Safari which now syncs all your Apple devices. I need a lot more than this to switch from Chrome and/or Firefox.
iOS 6
I can take a nap now.
Source: eduardoangel.com
Catching up with the coolest tech news. Summary.
I’ve been on the road for the past 2 weeks, with very limited internet access. Today, I finally had some time to catch up with the latest technology news (1683 articles and 268 emails). These are, in my opinion, the most interesting and relevant announcements:
• Filmmaker Jeff Desom took Alfred Hitchcock’s famous 1954 film “Rear Window” and turned it into a single panoramic time-lapse video.
Two years ago I set up my camera to take a picture every 15 seconds for 36 hour and edited 698 still images into a 29-second video.
• Recently I was interviewed by PDN about the “13 Products you need to add HD Video to your business.” Do you agree or disagree? Did we miss something? We would love to hear your comments below. The article is also available on PDN’s May print issue.
• Blurb posted a cool article about how we use the Book Module on Adobe Lightroom 4. If you are interested in exploring this option don’t miss one of our upcoming seminars. Here’s the sample book (about wine!) we created.
click here to continue
• Canon announced the EOS 60Da, specifically designed for astrophotography. The camera has the same image sensor as the standard 60D, but it has been reworked for enhanced transmission of a specific wavelength of red light — 656 nanometers — within the visible spectrum.
• Tenba announced the Roadie II Hybrid, a carry-on compliant rolling camera case than can be converted into a backpack.
• Sony announced the NEX FS700, a new 4k-capable E-mount camcorder, with 1080p video and 60p, 50p, 60i and 24p. Apparently a firmware upgrade will enable 4k capture and Raw output, as well as slow-motion footage (up to 960 fps at reduced resolution and 240fps in Full HD). As always, our friends from Abel Cine posted a great article about the new system here.
• A few months ago we tested Adobe Premiere Pro and Twixtor to find out which one was better for slow motion. We chose skateboarders as the subject matter, which proved to be very challenging. On these new tutorials (Part 1 and Part 2) a pro skateboarding photographer discusses various composition tips and techniques.
• David Pogue, the New York Times technology columnist wrote about the changes he has witness during the last year on professional TV and film cameras while shooting a new PBS show. He covers the flexibility of interchangeable lenses and amazing low-light capability of the new (Canon, Sony, and Panasonic) digital systems.
• Canon announced a free Digital Photo Professional (DPP) update to enhance EOS 5D Mark III CR2 file corrections. The software update will be available next month.
• Adobe is hosting a free Webinar this Friday April 6th at noon Pacific Time titled “Developing Digital Publishing Suite Content for the New iPad.” This is a VERY relevant topic for anyone creating and delivering online content, which means, everybody.
Source: eduardoangel.com
The Lion in the cloud.
The release of the new Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is approaching. Apple recently unveiled a “developers preview” to get programmers up to speed with the new platform. The shipping version will be available in less than 6 months. So far, some of the highlighted features are a deeper integration with Apple’s iCloud, new sharing capabilities, and improved security. It is believed that Rosetta will stay with us a little longer, while iChat will be replaced with “iMessages.”
As expected, iCloud will be the center of Apple’s universe, and all other devices (iPhones, iPads, desktops, and laptops) will simply interact with iCloud to handle media, messaging, calendars, reminders, settings, and even purchases. Everything lives in the cloud—the device is simply a way to retrieve and add information. Oddly enough, one of the biggest changes is direct integration with Twitter. iCloud’s Documents will be competing directly with Google Documents.
Applications like Safari, Mail, iPhoto, Reminders, and Photo Booth will be able to tweet directly without having to launch or manage a separate Twitter client. Tweets will be context-aware: meaning a tweet from iPhoto will enable sharing via Flickr, while a video tweet will display Vimeo or YouTube as an option. What will come out first, the new OS or the updated line of Mac Book Pros?
Source: eduardoangel.com
Muscle tissue produced with a 3D printer.
San Diego startup Organovo has developed a bioprinting technique which allows it to create human tissue starting with any cell source. The printer deposits lines of cells closely together, where they are allowed to grow and interconnect until they form working muscle tissue.
Unlike other experimental approaches that utilize ink-jet printers to deposit cells, Organovo’s technology enables cells to interact with each other the way they do in the body. How? They are packed tightly together, sandwiched, if you will, and incubated. This prompts them to cleave to each other and interchange chemical signals. When printed, the cells are grouped together in a paste that helps them grow, migrate, and align themselves properly. In the case of muscle cells, the way they orient themselves in the same direction allow for contractions of the tissue.
The company hopes to one day build entire organs for transplants. Because tissue is able to be built from a patient’s own cells, the risk of rejection would be very low.
via 8bitfuture:
(via futurescope)
Source: blog.mfoundation.org
Upgrading to Adobe Lightroom 4 in 7 simple steps.
The following steps can be used to upgrade Lightroom 1, Lightroom 2 or Lightroom 3, as well as Lightroom 4 Beta catalogs.
Step 1. Download and Install Lightroom 4
Step 2. On your Mac’s finder, find the location of your Lightroom 3 catalog. It should look something like name.lrcat
Step 3. Right click on that file and select “open with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4″
Step 4. You should see the “Lightroom Catalog Upgrade” dialog. Be very careful with this step. Catalog names can NOT be changed later. I strongly suggest you click on “change” and determine the best location and name for your upgraded catalog.
—Click to continue
As you can see I created a new FOLDER (EAP_LR4_Laptop) and a new CATALOG name EAP_LR4_Laptop.
You might be wondering why I picked this naming structure. Simple:
EAP stands for Eduardo Angel Photography
LR4 is obviously Lightroom 4
And Laptop is the location of the Catalog, the place where all my Lightroom settings (keywords, presets, previews, plug-ins, etc) will be stored. This is especially important if you often shoot on location and need to sync temporary catalogs to your permanent catalog. See our previous post with step-by-step instructions on how to do this.
Step 5. Ready? Jump! Hit “Create” and then “Upgrade”
Keep in mind that Lightroom will create a NEW catalog inside the new folder we just created. The old previews will me moved to the new location but the old Lightroom 3 Catalog will still exist in your system. I recommend keeping this file for a couple of weeks until you have confirmed that all the images and settings were upgraded correctly.
ime for a quick coffee break. Depending on your system specs, how many images you have, the file sizes, presets etc, the upgrade can take several minutes. I have over 50,000 RAW files and 600 presets, and the upgrade took less than 4 minutes.
Step 6. We are almost there. You now see the “Enable reverse geocoding” dialog, which is basically asking for permision to access Google Maps. Even though I am NOT happy with Google’s recent privacy policy changes, I recommend enabling this feature so you can use the brand new Map Module.
If later on you regret feeding Big Brother more information, you can disable this feature under the “Metadata” tab of the “Catalog Settings” Dialog.
Step 7. Done! We have successfully upgraded our Lightroom 3 catalog into a brand new Lightroom 4 catalog.
One last thing to consider: Any new changes done in Lightroom 4 will not be available in previous versions of Lightroom. What this means is, if you are in the middle of a project, finish it in Lightroom 3 and then do the upgrade. Now is time to play.
Source: eduardoangel.com
Conversations with Friends.
On the fifth Episode of our “Conversations with Friends” we met with Peter Waisnor and discussed his 5 favorite movies, and why he feels “lost in translation” when visiting Tokyo on business trips. We also had a little “difference” regarding Jim Carrey’s acting skills.
The wine was a special bottle I was saving specially for Peter since last summer, a very beautiful 2005 G.D. Vajra italian Barolo.
“A sweet, inviting bouquet leads to roses, cherries, raspberries, flowers and spices. The wine possesses gorgeous inner perfume and wonderful depth as it hovers on the palate with a Burgundian sense of weightlessness. This is an emotionally moving, delicate wine of the highest level. Simply put, this is a marvelous bottle.” Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
