LATEST ADDITIONS

Now I know how stagecoach drivers felt when they saw those first rail lines
being laid over their routes. The recent announcement that Kodak would be discontinuing
their silver black and white papers didn't come as much as a shock as
an inevitability that one always hopes will not be manifest. With inventories
expected to last a few months, we're now witnessing the disappearance
of venerable brands such as Polycontrast IV, Azo and Polymax Fine Art, Kodabrome
II and Portra, even their "Digital Black and White" paper, which
was used for digital printers. According to a Kodak spokesperson, Kodak has
seen a cumulative drop in black and white paper buying of 25% per year over
the past few years and could no longer justify being in the market. We also
learned, by the way, that Kodak black and white papers had of late been produced
in Brazil, being packaged from rolls in Rochester. The spokesperson did stress,
however, that Kodak black and white film and chemistry was not on the chopping
block and that Kodak sees silver photography as still extremely viable.

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Shutterbug
contributor and Digital Outback Photo web site creator Uwe Steinmuller has just
released his newest e-book: "The Art of RAW Conversion, Optimal image quality
from Photoshop CS2 and leading RAW converters". This e-book covers all angles
of RAW conversion based on a real-world experience. Also, topics like color management,
DNG and B&W are covered. The RAW converters featured are Camera Raw 3.x, RawShooter,
Canon DPP, Capture One, Nikon Capture and Bibble 4.x. The e-book helps explain
all aspects of the RAW workflow and features an introduction to DNG, color management
and black and white conversions using RAW conversion. In it you will find how
to perfect images by removing image artifacts like: Noise, Chromatic Aberrations,
Lens Distortions, dust and sharpening, as well as upsizing, dark/light halo and
edge mask sharpening. The workflow of RAW is also thoroughly explained. All techniques
are based on the author's real world experiences as a fine art photographer.

The e-book contains 290 pages and is available as a downloadable PDF for $39.95.



For more information visit: http://www.outbackphoto.com/booklets/booklets.html...

The
Samsung Digimax V700 is a 7-megapixel digicam that sells for $409.99. The pocketable
camera features a 4 cm super-macro mode, a 2-inch color LCD display and a Schneider
7.8-23.4mm zom lens, equivalent to 38-114mm in 35mm format. Menu navigation
is aided by a bold, graphic user interface, which includes scene modes, text
modes and Program, aperture- and shutter-priority modes. There's also
a "live", real-time histogram to aid in getting good exposures.

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