Apple has just unleashed its latest iPad commercial upon the world.
“What is iPad?” a man’s voice intones. “iPad is thin. iPad is beautiful.” At this point, iPad is sounding like some kind of Scandinavian model who inadvertently makes the rest of us feel dumpy. “It’s crazy powerful. It’s [wait for it] magical.”
Talk about big premieres. Like it did with the iPhone and its “Hello” ad, Apple used the Oscars as the platform to debut its iPad commercial. The ad, set to the background of The Blue Van’s “There Goes My Love,” shows the iPad being used in a variety of ways: viewing a movie, reading an eBook, displaying photos, editing an iWork document and viewing email among them. The ad follows Apple’s recent announcement that pre-orders for the device will be accepted beginning March 12, with shipments slated for April 3.
Here’s a link to the ad at Apple’s site. The ad is also embedded in the second half of this post.
Canon was handing out coffee mugs that look like the Canon 70-200mm L series lens at the Vancouver Olympic games. Josh Weisberg, director of the Microsoft Rich Media Group, got one at the Olympic Press Center, and sent the above photograph of it to PDNPulse.
If only Canon would start selling these things to the general public. I’d buy at least one.
Apple quickly put out a patch for Aperture 3 to improve stability and resolve issues for a great many things including:
• Upgrading libraries from earlier versions of Aperture
• Importing libraries from iPhoto
• Importing photos directly from a camera
• Memory usage when processing heavily-retouched photos
• Face recognition processing
I myself had repeated troubles on an iPhoto import, so fingers crossed on my current attempt, with newly patched software.
It’s clear that everyone with Aperture 3 should absolutely download this update. However, support documents still warn that the thing could eat up your drive (albeit temporarily):
Aperture temporarily uses extra space on your hard drive during the upgrade process. This is for the purpose of backing up critical library info and insuring the integrity of your data during upgrade. If you don’t have adequate space on your hard drive to accommodate the upgrade, Aperture will display a warning dialog. You may need to move your library to a different hard drive with more space in order to upgrade it, and then move it back to the original drive when the upgrade is complete. Any space used by Aperture during the upgrade is released and made available to you again once the upgrade has finished.
So there’s that. Anyway, kudos to Apple for speedy reaction to a known issue. We definitely love to see that! [Patch download; release notes]
In this series, I will start to lay out the case for how and why I think the iPad will change photography. Now before you get too excited, I’m not talking about major change, but IMPORTANT change.
Last week I mentioned that the iPad is a CONTENT machine – aimed at consuming it not creating it. Today, I want to talk about the interface.
The iPad doesn’t come with a pointer, a trackpad, a trackball or a mouse. It relies on multi-touchtechnology. If you’ve seen the Tom Cruise movie where Cruise uses his hand to interact with a computer while hunting for a criminal you understand multi-touch. If you have an AppleiPhone or laptop you probably use multi-touch right now. And that is one very crucial factor in the iPad’s ability to share photographs.
Millions (and I do mean millions) of people are already familiar with Apple’s multi-touch technology. They use it every day. So that means the iPad will come to their door ready to use. No training required. Heck, you won’t even need to read the manual.
Laptops, tablet computers and such are much more complicated. Small children can use a mult-touch device right out of the box – as can elderly folks who think “learning” a computer is too big a task.
I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. When I first got the iPhone I put a portfolio of my wolf pics on the phone. I knew my neighbor’s five-year-old daughter loved wolves so I just handed her the phone and asked her if she wanted to look at some wolf photos. She got excited, literally grabbed the phone from me, turned it horizontally (since the first pic in the show was horizontal) and started enjoying the photo. Then I simply said, “Go on to the next one now.” She looked at me funny but then back at the iPhone and sure enough, she just organically knew to try swiping the image. When it worked she let out a little yelp of happiness. I then showed her (one time) how to pinch to zoom in and within a few minutes she had mastered the whole thing.
This is the stuff Apple does very, very well. And you can bet it’s going to make the iPad one of the most consumer-friendly pieces of technology we’ve ever seen.
Apple has worked to expand multi-touch on the iPad. There are numerous new “gestures” planned for the iPad.
Bundles (or piles or stacks) can be made by holding a finger on one picture and then tapping others to group together.
New Resize handle makes it easy to tap and grab one or more images and resize them.
New page navigation sidebar lets you see thumbnails of pages to select.
New context-based keyboards will automatically resize to fit the app you’re using.
There are many more like floating control panels, optimized views, more spread and pinch options, popovers, dragging to create lists, etc.
And this doesn’t even count all the new gestures we’ll see once the third-party developers get into writing new ones.
In short, I see the ability to interact with the iPad via multi-touch as a new opportunity to show off your photo portfolio with flair. Not only will you be able to show pictures, but if you become skilled at multi-touch gestures, you’ll be able to do it with style.
The ability to use the iPad as a portable portfolio is probably my main attraction to the device. And portability is the next thing I’ll cover in part 3 of the series.
CUPERTINO, California—February 9, 2010—Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 3, the next major release of its powerful photo editing and management software, with over 200 new features including Faces, Places and Brushes. Building on the innovative Faces and Places features introduced in iPhoto® ’09, Aperture 3 makes it even easier and faster to organize large photo libraries. Aperture 3 introduces new tools to refine your photos including Brushes for painting image adjustments onto parts of your photo, and Adjustment Presets for applying professional photo effects with just one click. Stunning new slideshows let you share your work by weaving together photos, audio, text and HD video.
“Millions of people love using iPhoto to organize, edit and share their digital photos,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Aperture 3 is designed for both professionals who edit and manage massive libraries of photos and iPhoto users who want to take their photos further with easy-to-use tools such as Brushes and Adjustment Presets.”
“Aperture 3 gets it right,” said National Geographic photographer, Jim Richardson. “The image editing tools are exactly what I have been asking for, they’re so easy to use and give me a level of control that I never even thought possible.
“I chose Aperture because it was the most powerful archiving application around, but it’s now an unbelievable imaging tool as well,” said Bill Frakes, Sports Illustrated staff photographer. “I am beyond impressed with the massive changes made in Aperture 3.”
Aperture 3 allows you to organize large photo libraries with even more flexibility using Projects and the new Faces and Places. Faces uses face detection and recognition to find and organize your photos by the people in them. You can view faces across your entire photo library or view just the faces that appear in selected projects. In a new view that speeds up the organization process, Aperture 3 displays faces that have been detected but haven’t yet been named. Places lets you explore your photos based on where they were taken, and like in iPhoto, Places automatically reverse geocodes GPS data into user-friendly locations. In Aperture 3, you can assign locations by dragging-and-dropping photos onto a map or by using location information from GPS enabled cameras, tracking devices or your iPhone® photos.
The new Brushes feature allows you to add professional touches to your photos by simply painting effects onto the image. Aperture 3 includes 15 Quick Brushes that perform the most popular tasks like Dodge, Burn, Polarize and Blur, without the complexity of layers or masks. Brushes can automatically detect edges in your images to let you apply or remove effects exactly where you want them. Aperture 3 includes dozens of Adjustment Presets that apply a specific style or look to the entire image with just a click. You can create your own custom presets or explore the techniques of other photographers by importing theirs.
Aperture 3 makes it easy to share your work with stunning slideshows that weave together photos, audio, text and HD video. You can select one of six Apple designed themes or choose your own transitions, background, borders and titles, and even add your own soundtrack. You can export your slideshows directly to iTunes® to take with you on your iPhone or iPod touch®. You can also share photographs as beautiful prints, create custom-designed hardcover books and publish to online photo sharing sites like Facebook and Flickr, right from Aperture 3.
Pricing & Availability
Aperture 3 is available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) and existing Aperture users can upgrade for a suggested retail price of $99 (US). A downloadable 30-day trial version is available at www.apple.com/aperture/trial. Aperture 3 runs as a 64-bit application on Mac OS® X Snow Leopard® on Macs with Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Full system requirements, online tutorials and more information on Aperture 3 can be found at www.apple.com/aperture.
A prime lens is one that has a single focal length. A zoomlens is one that has a range of focal lengths. Each has its advantages and proper place in your lens line-up. But the prime has not always been my preference. I wasn’t until recent month that I began to appreciate prime lenses.
When I purchased my first DSLR, I picked up my first prime lens (50mm f/1.8), and over the course of the first year I didn’t use it much.. I thought, “why would anyone use a prime lens when the advantages of a zoom lens are so great?” Of course, I was only using my limited knowledge and understanding of photography. I’ve grown to consider that lens as one my favorites, second only to my 85mm f/1.8. In the last few months, I’ve hardly taken the 85mm lens off my camera body.
Here are Six Reasons Why Prime Lenses Are So Lovable:
1. LOWER COST
For the same quality, prime lenses cost less than zoom lenses. They contain fewer elements, less moving parts, and their design is simpler. For the same cost, you can pick up a half-decent zoom lens or you can pick up an outstanding prime lens.
2. SHARPER IMAGES
Primes have been optimized for sharpness and clarity while zooms must sacrifice these things in order to offer up the convenience of multiple focal lengths. Images taken with prime lenses are incredibly sharp–even the less expensive primes. To achieve the same level of sharpness with zoom lenses, you would have to opt for the high-end, expensive “L Series” lenses offered by Canon.
3. BETTER DEPTH OF FIELD (DOF) CONTROL
Again, for the same price point, prime lenses are capable of a wider array of f-numbers. They’re faster, and they offer more options at the low end of the f-number scale.
4. NICER LOOKING BOKEH
Generally, as you lower your f-number your bokeh becomes more apparent. Primes are notorious for producing crazy bokeh on specular highlights when shot wide open. Primes will also generally have better and/or more aperture blades, thus giving you a better bokeh.
5. LOW LIGHT CAPABILITIES
If you’ve never shot with a f/1.8 (or faster) lens, you have no idea what you’re missing. Indoor shots — no flash, no problem. Concerts — fast lenses are a must.
6. THEY MAKE YOU THINK
I suppose my favorite thing about prime lenses is the fact that you have to use your head. Composition becomes a thinking game. You have to move your feet to get that shot you had in mind, so you really start to evaluate what’s important in the scene. Fast primes also make you think a little harder about your f-number. The DOF can be extremely shallow; sometimes too shallow to produce an effective shot. Not only that, but on bright sunny days, you actually can’t use the lens wide open without an ND filter because you’ll let in too much light and max out your shutter speed.
So if you don’t have a good prime lens, you’re really missing out. Zooms are fine, and they have their place, but a prime will open your eyes to a whole new level of photography.
As expected, the usual cast of Windows fanboys, link-baiters, Apple haters, etc., jumped up screaming about all the things the iPad WON’T do. They talked about all the features it DIDN’T have. And that’s exactly the wrong approach. People NEVER, EVER buy anything because of what it WON’T do – they buy because of what it WILL do. They don’t buy it because of what it DOESN’T HAVE – they buy it because of what it DOES have. If the iPad spit gold bars at its owners and cured cancers, then there’d still be the contingent of haters who would bash it. Don’t let that detour you from checking it out.
I’ve looked at the same feature list as everyone else. No the iPad doesn’t have a web cam or a video cam or any kind of cam. It doesn’t support AdobeFlash. It doesn’t have a removable battery or hard disk or CD/DVD player. You can buy a laptop if you want all that.
I get a real chuckle out of people who say you can’t use the iPad to show off your portfolio because it doesn’t run Flash. P L E A S E! Apple will ship the iPad with a wonderful photo viewer and you can bet your last piece of pizza that there will be LOTS of photo slide players, etc., written for the iPad by third-party developers. Showing pics on an iPhone has landed me more than two dozen jobs. I have no doubt that showing pics using the same OS on a larger, brighter screen will be just fine.
Back to what the iPad won’t do? The iPad won’t make you a linear algebra expert just because you own it. It won’t make you two feet taller either. If you’re bald when you buy an iPad, you’ll be bald afterwards too. But what it will do is give you a chance to do all sorts of things that make your photography more valuable and enjoyable. And that is what people should concentrate on. [read more]
Apple’s new tablet may be just the ticket for serious photographers. Like all things Apple, it’s cool, well-designed, pretty and yes, expensive if you order the top-of-the-line model, although the entry-level product is very competitively priced and in my opinion, downright affordable.
What the Apple Tablet Will Mean to Photographers?
But imagine how hot for you the photo buyers will be when you waltz into their offices with the new tablet and ask, “Care to look at my portfolio?”
The portable portfolio will get an amazing jump-start because of the new tablet, and all the competition that follows it.
And there are more possible practical uses of the tablet. For some, it may be all the laptop they need. Photographers might be able to use the tablet as a portable field monitor for stills or video. Imagine shooting tethered to a tablet!
If all the new Apple tablet did was offer us a cool new way to display our portfolios, I’d be happy. But there’s something much more important to talk about here.
The tablet will save the newspaper, magazine and book publishing businesses. All of these industries have been having tough times. Lots of newspapers and magazines have folded. So have several book publishing houses. One big reason is that printing presses, paper and postage stamps are all more expensive than ever. And the electronic delivery systems are preferred by at least one major segment of the population – young people.
With new outlets for photography that will flow from the movement away from print to things like tablets, photographers will start to see more jobs and it’s possible that at the very least, the blood letting we’ve seen in some news rooms and other places where photo journalists used to be employed will stop.
These are early days yet. We need to wait and see how the device actually works in the real world. There will no doubt be many future iterations of this product. But I am betting that this leads to good news for photographers. Is it a game changer?
INTRODUCING THE ULTIMATE MULTIMEDIA IMAGING SOLUTION: THE NEW CANON EOS-1D MARK IV DIGITAL SLR CAMERA The EOS-1D Mark IV Features a Completely Redesigned 45-Point Autofocus System, Fast 10 fps Continuous Shooting, 16-Megapixel Resolution, Outstanding ISO Sensitivity, and Full HD Video Recording at Selectable Frame Rates
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., October 20, 2009 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, is proud to introduce the next evolution in the EOS 1D series of cameras: the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR camera. The EOS-1D Mark IV is a high-speed multimedia performance monster with a 16-megapixel Canon CMOS sensor, Dual DIGIC 4 Imaging Processors, and 14-bit A/D data conversion, all at 10 frames-per-second (fps), with the widest ISO range Canon has produced to date. This new camera also features 1080p Full High-Definition video capture at selectable frame rates packaged in Canon’s most rugged and durable professional camera body.
The crowning achievement of Canon’s 1D Mark IV Digital SLR is its new autofocus system that starts with 45 AF points including 39 high-precision cross-type focusing points capable of tracking fast moving athletes or wildlife accurately at speeds up to 10 frames per second. With greater subject detection capability than ever before plus a newly redesigned AI Servo II AF predictive focusing algorithm, the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV camera sets new standards for autofocus performance among professional digital SLRs. Whether shooting for the six o’clock news or the front page, the EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR is the quintessential camera to freeze fast-moving action with high-speed stills or capture stunning HD video with dynamic color and image quality. To accompany the new EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR camera, Canon is also announcing a new accessory, the WFT-E2 II A wireless file transmitter providing photographers with a wide range of professional digital connectivity options.
“Canon works hard to be the imaging leader in all our business endeavors. This goal has fueled our innovation and R&D efforts to engineer the most advanced autofocus system Canon has ever produced. We are proud to announce the camera that will deliver the ultimate in imaging quality to professionals working in all areas of multimedia imaging, whether it’s action photography, photojournalism or HD video and cinematography,” stated Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A.
The Canon EOS-1D Mark IV camera will intrigue professional photographers in virtually every category from photojournalism and sports through nature, wedding, portrait and fashion to commercial, industrial and law enforcement. What makes the EOS-1D Mark IV camera different from its predecessors, in addition to numerous focusing system and image quality improvements, is its exceptional Full HD video capture capability. With this new level of functionality, the 1D Mark IV Digital SLR is destined to appeal not only to professional still photographers but also to a diverse market of professional videographers and filmmakers who are looking for exceptional Full HD video quality, amazing low-light performance, outstanding portability and a level of durability unheard of in most HD video cameras in this price range.
New 45-Point Autofocus System
The new EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR camera features Canon’s most advanced Autofocus system to date. It is equipped with a newly developed 45-point AF sensor featuring 39 high-precision cross-type AF points, and an all new AI Servo II AF mode that gives still photographers the power and performance to track and focus a fast-moving subject at speeds up to 10 frames per second. With more than twice as many cross-type focusing points as the EOS-1D Mark III and a new AF sensor construction that improves performance in low light and with low contrast subjects, the EOS-1D Mark IV has greater subject detection capabilities than any previous EOS model. To complete the range of AF improvements, Canon has developed a new AI Servo II AF predictive focusing algorithm that significantly improves responsiveness and stability by making better decisions on focus tracking in a variety of shooting conditions.
Amazing High ISO Performance
Wedding and event photographers shooting in low light without the benefit of a flash can take advantage of Canon’s widest ISO range and highest performance ever. The EOS-1D Mark IV camera’s ISO speed settings range from 100 up to 12,800 in 1/3 or 1/2 stop increments with ISO Expansion settings of L: 50 for bright light or H1: 25,600, H2: 51,200, and H3: 102,400 for even the most dimly lit situations. Photographers and documentary filmmakers working in available light will be impressed by the low-noise image quality of the 1D Mark IV, capturing amazing still images and video footage even at speed settings as high as ISO 12,800. High ISO, low light still images are further enhanced by Canon’s adjustable High ISO Noise Reduction feature, now a default setting in the camera.
The EOS-1D Mark IV, EOS HD Video Powerhouse
Over the past year, Canon’s EOS HD Video technology has changed the way users capture 1080p HD video and opened new doors for multimedia journalists and Hollywood cinematographers alike with full manual exposure control, selectable frame rates, and interchangeable lenses on some of the largest and most sensitive image sensors on the market. Canon continues this innovation trend with the new EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR with Full HD capture and full manual exposure control, plus selectable frame rates on an all-new APS-H-sized image sensor that’s similar in size to a Super 35mm motion picture film frame. The large sensor allows filmmakers to achieve shallow depth-of-field just as cinematographers have traditionally done using much higher-cost motion picture equipment.
The more than 50 Canon EF lenses compatible with the EOS-1D Mark IV give videographers incredible creative options, including an impressive selection of large-aperture professional L-series primes as well as zoom lenses, macro, Tilt-Shift and Fisheye optics. The Canon EOS-1D Mark IV allows for three video recording resolutions – 1080p Full HD and 720p HD in a 16:9 aspect ratio and Standard Definition (SD) in a 4:3 aspect ratio. The camera will record Full HD at 1920 x 1080 in selectable frame rates of 24p (23.976), 25p, or 30p (29.97); and 720p HD or SD video recording at either 50p or 60p (59.94). SD video can be recorded in either NTSC or PAL standards. Sound is recorded either through the internal monaural microphone or via optional external microphones connected to the stereo microphone input. The camera also provides an in-camera video editing function allowing users to remove the start or ending of a video clip directly in the camera to eliminate unwanted footage and speed up post-production.
Image Quality and Performance
The heart of the EOS-1D Mark IV camera’s outstanding image quality is a newly developed 16.1-Megapixel CMOS sensor featuring Canon’s latest and most advanced proprietary technologies. These technologies include improved photodiode construction to enhance dynamic range and gapless microlenses that are positioned closer to the photodiodes for improved light gathering efficiency. The transmissive quality of the color filter array has been enhanced to improve sensitivity. Canon has also upgraded the sensor circuitry to improve noise reduction before the image data is exported from the CMOS sensor to the rest of the image processing chain.
With 60 percent more pixels than the EOS-1D Mark III, the EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR employs Dual DIGIC 4 Image Processors with approximately six times the processing power of DIGIC III for full 14-bit A/D conversion at 10 fps. High-speed continuous shooting up to 121 Large JPEGs is possible using a UDMA CF card. This camera also features three RAW shooting modes for versatility with Full RAW (approx. 16 million pixels), M-RAW (approx. nine million pixels), and S-RAW (approx. four million pixels). Three additional JPEG recording formats (M1, M2 and Small) are also available.
The 14-bit per channel conversion facilitated by the dual DIGIC 4 Processors provides smoother tonalities in final images capturing all 16,384 distinct tones in each channel (red, green and blue) at the full 10 fps frame rate. RAW images shot on the new Canon EOS-1D Mark IV use the entire 14-bit space when converted to 16-bit TIFF files in Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software, which is supplied with the camera at no extra charge. The 14-bit A/D conversion is also the foundation for Canon’s Highlight Tone Priority feature that takes maximum advantage of the camera’s extensive dynamic range to preserve detail in highlight areas of the image. Canon’s new EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR also features an improved white balance algorithm making colors more accurate when shooting under low color temperature light sources such as household tungsten lamps.
The EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR features Canon’s Peripheral Illumination Correction function which corrects darkening that can occur in the corners of images with most lenses when used at their largest apertures. When activated, it is automatically applied to JPEG images and video clips as they are shot. For RAW images, it can be applied in DPP software.
Other new features include a large three-inch solid structure Clear View II LCD screen with 920,000 dot/VGA resolution and a wide 160-degree viewing angle for enhanced clarity and more precise color when reviewing images and shooting video. The new in-camera copyright information feature helps professionals secure control over images by setting copyright data directly into the camera and appending that information to each image file in the Exif metadata. Additional features include a fluorine coating on the Low Pass Filter to further repel dust and enhance the EOS Integrated Cleaning System.
Minimize Post-Production with Enhanced Canon Auto Lighting Optimizer
Action photography truly is all about speed, capturing a fast subject with fast focusing and fast frame rates. However, all this speed might be wasted if it is slowed down by lengthy post-production procedures to adjust image quality. The EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR helps reduce post-production work with a powerful new Auto Lighting Optimizer (ALO) system. When enabled, Canon’s ALO automatically adjusts the image for optimal brightness and contrast on the fly during in-camera image processing, reducing clipped highlights while keeping shadowed areas as clear and detailed as they actually appear. By optimizing brightness and contrast in-camera, Canon’s ALO system significantly reduces the need for post-production image optimization, and gives photographers image quality they can take directly to press. Demanding professional photographers who tested ALO clearly stated that this one feature will reduce their post-production image optimization process by more than 75 percent. Canon’s ALO works with both RAWi and JPEG images as well as video recording.
Rugged Reliability
Canon has taken every measure to ensure that the EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR camera has the highest degree of weather resistance in the EOS line. The 1D Mark IV camera incorporates a wide range of design features that enhance its durability and reliability for professional assignments. For example, the 1D Mark IV’s body, chassis and lens mount are completely weather-resistant and 76 gaskets and seals surround all buttons and seams. The body covers and internal chassis, including the mirror box, are constructed with magnesium-alloy, one of the strongest and rigid metals available for its weight. For added strength, the lens mount is constructed with stainless steel. In fact, when used with Canon’s Speedlite 580EX II and/or most current L-series lenses, the entire camera system remains fully weather resistant, so professionals can concentrate on getting the shot instead of worrying about protecting their gear.
New Wireless Connectivity
Canon is announcing the availability of the new WFT-E2 II A* wireless file transmitter exclusively for the EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR camera. The WFT-E2 II A wireless transmitter is an extremely small and versatile device that offers professional photographers a wide range of digital connectivity options including IEEE802.11a/b/g and Ethernet, ideal for commercial and studio work. In addition to adding the ability to connect to wireless networks over 802.11a, the new WFT-E2 II A adds a wealth of new professional features to the photographer’s tool kit. The new Camera Linking feature allows a single photographer to simultaneously fire up to 10 cameras remotely; and the updated WFT Server mode lets you remotely use Live View, control settings, and fire the EOS-1D Mark IV over the internet from anywhere in the world using a standard Web browser or many Web-enabled smart phones. Additionally, geotagging is now possible via Bluetooth, using compatible GPS devices to append coordinate data to the images.
Pricing and Availability
The Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR camera is scheduled to be delivered to U.S. dealers in late December, and will be sold in a body-only configuration at an estimated retail price of $4,999.00ii. Final pricing and availability for the Canon WFT-E2 II A wireless file transmitter will be available later this year.