The Alpha 580 – a three-way view
David Kilpatrick’s review of the Sony Alpha 580 includes detailed comparisons of features and functions with other Sony DSLR, SLT and NEX cameras
Category: Features
Nikon D5000 HD video – May Day evening
True to promise, the Nikon D5000 did become available on May 1st in the UK, and my review camera turned up mid-day in time to be photographed and have its battery charged. Taking it out on my walk to the post (regrettably, to send in large sums of VAT and tax…) the sun came out though it was a very cold and windy day. With the sun, the breeze dropped to a reasonable level and on the way back I was struck by the motion of the trees, leaves and flowers.
Hasselblad to slash digital SLR prices
In an interview with dPhotoexpert at photokina, Cologne, Hasselblad CEO Christian Poulsen revealed that the company is to cut the recommended prices of its H3DII digital medium-format SLR bodies by up to €10,000.
Nikon D90 12.3Mp DSLR announced – a new market for Nikon?
August 26th, London, UK: report from Richard Kilpatrick
Today saw the launch of the newest member of Nikon’s growing range of successful DSLRs, with an ongoing increase in market share clearly resulting in growing confidence for the camera brand. Prefacing the D90’s announcement, Nikon revealed that 50% of professional photographers at the Olympics were using Nikon, and their market share reached 44% of the pro DSLR market in February (this is despite the range still having a 12Mp upper limit).
D90 at launch
Having introduced the D3, D300, D60 and D700 within the last 12 months, the D80 was really looking like the last man standing; today’s announcement shows that the mid-range “enthusiast” market is going to be exceptionally well catered for with a ground-breaking new model, and leaves me as a recent D3 adopter wondering if it’s possible to justify a spare F-mount body.
Portrait Professsional 8 – now for Mac
Portrait Professional, the downloadable software from Anthropics which resculpts face shapes while smoothing out skin imperfections and signs of ageing, has been updated to Version 8 and launched for Apple Mac as well as Windows PC. We tested it briefly as a first look in our magazine Master Photo>Digital.
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Judging colour in the darkroom
David Kilpatrick explains why controlled conditions are important and shows an example of a ring-around chart – something to keep pinned on your darkroom wall, made from your own test negatives or slides. This article was first published in 1996, and the principles if not the identical corrections can be applied to making inkjet tests from digital images. It is still most relevant to darkroom colour printing, for those who want to keep this art alive.
Cromazoning with just two lights
Dean Collins invented ‘cromazones’ – predictable, variable studio backdrop color from a gel-filtered background light. David Kilpatrick sets out to show how two low-cost strobes switchable down to quarter power give all the control you need. Continue reading »