Our Picture This! assignment this month was Sacred Spaces, places that inspire us to consider the less material and more spiritual side of life. Readers responded with many images of awe-inspiring landscapes with special meaning, places of worship, of pure light and color, and, in some cases, of places that have special meaning for the photographer. All this could go to prove that the divine can...
WD has added a high-speed FireWire® 800 interface to its popular My Passport Studio portable drive to give Mac computer users and creative professionals the fast performance they need. The new interface also makes this drive a perfect storage companion for the newly introduced Apple MacBook Pro computer. With FireWire 800/400 and USB interfaces, the new My Passport Studio portable drives offer up to 500 GB of storage capacity, are formatted for Mac.
A built-in, illuminated capacity gauge tells users how much space is available in the drive and because it is powered by the FireWire or USB connection, it is truly portable. In addition, My Passport Studio can be used to backup Mac laptops using Apple’s Time Machine application.
Availability and Price
Available now at select retailers and at WD’s online store (www.shopwd.com), MSRP for My Passport Studio with FireWire 800/400 interfaces and 500 GB capacity is $249.99 USD; MSRP for 400 GB capacity is $229.99 USD. Apple Retail Stores will feature My Passport Studio drives with the new FireWire 800 interface this holiday season.
Ultra-fast and Mac computer-ready, the My Passport Studio portable drive includes the following features:
- High-performance FireWire 800 interface, plus FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces for maximum flexibility;
- Turbo-powered with high-speed turbo drivers for maximum performance (Mac computer only);
- Illuminated capacity gauge lets users see at a glance how much space is available on the drive;
- Compatible with Apple’s Time Machine application so users can back up with Apple’s Time Machine, or their favorite back up software;
- Industry-leading 5-year limited warranty;
- FireWire or USB powered so no separate power supply is needed; and,
- Formatted HFS+, Journaled for use with Mac computers can be easily reformatted for use with Windows PCs.
Tamrac’s Aero Speed Pack 85 is said to be the perfect carrying solution for the photographer who prefers the comfort of a backpack, but doesn’t want to sacrifice the ability to quickly access photo gear. To allow for this, Tamrac developed an innovative Dual Access System. This unique system allows fast access through a side door when the pack is worn over one shoulder and brought around to the front of the body as well as traditional access to equipment through the front panel when the pack is removed.
Go from orange, blue and green-tinted photos to beautifully captured color with the baLens Cap and achieve a look that is not always possible with in-camera automatic white balance or with in-camera pre-set white balances. Just squeeze both side tabs of the baLens Cap for easy mounting or removal, even with a lens hood in place. Its center pinch-release mechanism and streamlined design help to prevent the baLens Cap from accidentally being bumped off, either while traveling or when shooting in a crowd.
Capturing in-water images is easier than ever for scuba divers and water enthusiasts of all levels as Olympus extends its partnership with PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors) as the official digital underwater photography equipment sponsor of the PADI Diving Society through December 2009. Announced today at the DEMA Show 2008 in Las Vegas, the two companies have extended their relationship and will continue to work closely together to help recreational divers capture amazing images during their scuba and snorkeling adventures.
Epson America announced its next generation of professional ink jet printers – the 24-inch Epson Stylus Pro 7900 and the 44-inch Epson Stylus Pro 9900. This Epson Stylus Pro series incorporates Epson’s latest achievements in photographic ink jet technology, including Epson’s MicroPiezo TFP print head with new Epson UltraChrome HDR Ink technology, to deliver a higher level of print quality, increased performance with speeds almost twice as fast as previous models, and the widest color gamut ever from Epson Stylus Pro printers.
Based on unique high-density pigment chemistry, Epson UltraChrome HDR ink technology offers all-new Orange and Green inks, and when combined with Epson’s innovative AccuPhoto™ HDR screening technology, delivers the industry’s most advanced ink jet printing technology. The result is greatly enhanced photographic print quality with exceptionally fine photographic blends and transitions, and highly accurate highlight-to-shadow detail. In addition, Epson UltraChrome HDR offers excellent print permanence ratings for color and black-and-white prints and outstanding short-term color stability for a broad range of mission-critical proofing applications.
Also new to the Epson Stylus Pro series is an optional high performance, in-line spectrophotometer for commercial proofing applications. Developed by Epson in partnership with X-Rite, the SpectroProofer incorporates a high performance X-Rite ILS20 spectrophotometer for extreme measurement accuracy. When driven by the latest front-end RIP software, Epson’s SpectroProofer can automate virtually any color management process in today’s printing workflows.
Whether producing sellable color or black-and-white photography, fine art reproduction or producing color accurate commercial and flexographic proofs for client approvals, the new Epson Stylus Pro series offers a range of features and next-generation technologies that allow creative professionals to produce their vision without compromise. Key features and benefits include:
Sony Electronics has added two new models to its family of S-Frame digital photo frames—including the company’s first 10-inch model here at the PhotoPlus Expo trade show. The new 10-inch and 8-inch digital photo frames (models DPF-D100 and DPF-D80) have high-quality SVGA resolution (800 x 600 pixels) LCD screens. They are Sony’s first digital photo frames that offer a 4:3 aspect ratio.
This apect ratio eliminates borders around the digital photos and allows pictures to fill up the screen. Photos appear larger on theses frames’ displays than digital photo frames with the 16:9 aspect ratio.
In addition to providing high-quality LCD screens, these models have an advanced image processing feature that quickly decodes and displays images. The digital photo frames will dispay images that are up to 48 megapixels or files that are up to 100MB. The digital photo frames have 200MB of available capacity, so you can store hundreds of photos to the device and then return your memory card back to the camera.
Digital images can be loaded onto the internal memory of the digital photo frames from several types of flash memory cards, including Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, SD Memory Card, MMC, Compact Flash, Microdrive and xD-Picture Card.
Photos can also be transferred to the frames via a USB cable (not included) from a personal computer or digital camera. These two new S-Frame models support JPEG and RAW (SRF, SR2, ARW) image file formats.
The S-Frame models offer convenient features including the auto orientation sensor. The photo frame automatically detects whether it has been positioned horzonally or verically and then adjusts the display of the picture accordingly. When the frame is horizontal the Sony logo will light up. When the frame is vertical, the logo turns off and blends into the piano black finish.
Additional features include 10 slide show variations, clock and calendar views, and two index modes so you can preview several photos at once. You can also conserve energy by using the auto power on/off setting to program when you want the frame to turn on in the morning and off at night. Functions of the digital photo frame can be managed remotely using the included controller.
The DPF-D80 digital photo frame is now available for about $180 and the DPF-D100 model will be available in November for about $280. Both will be offered direct at sonystyle.com, at 43 Sony Style® retail stores around the country, and at hundreds of authorized dealers nationwide. Pre-orders are now being accepted for the DPF-D100 unit at sonystyle.com.
Named after famous Japanese poet Ono no Komachi, who was renowned for her beauty, the E-420 Komachi Kit certainly lives up to its namesake. The new limited-edition kit caters to those looking for amazing image quality in a small and light digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera with an elegant design.
onOne Software, Inc. announced Genuine Fractals 6 Professional Edition and Genuine Fractals 6 Standard Edition. Genuine Fractals 6 adds several new features designed to help photographers get the best enlargements possible. These new features include texture presets, a new gallery wrap function, batch processing, tiling for smaller printers and support for Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.
Nikon is pleased to announce a new DVD that guides viewers on advanced creative lighting techniques under the masterful instruction of award-winning National Geographic Traveler photographer Bob Krist and world renowned photojournalist and lighting expert, Joe McNally. Painting with light is the very definition of photography and this DVD demonstrates why the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) continues to define the imaginative possibilities available to photographers.