Contract supply service ContractStore.com has announced it is making available a free Model Release Form.
Category: Uncategorized
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Canon 5D MkII: 30fps 1080p, 21mp, ISO 25,600
United Kingdom / Republic of Ireland, 17 September 2008: Canon announces the full frame, 21.1 Megapixel EOS 5D Mark II: the first EOS with full High Definition video capability. They also announced a new 24mm f1.4 lens.
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Alpha 900 launch: gala dinner Edinburgh
Here, for some light relief, is an Alpha 700 + 24-105mm Minolta D documentary on the press dinner thrown for journalists from all the countries of the European region when they gathered in Edinburgh for the Alpha 900 launch!
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The Alpha 900 arrives
TODAY Sony’s Alpha 900 was unveiled to European journalists at a press conference held in the Caledonian Hilton Hotel, in the very heart of historic Edinburgh shadowed by the Castle and looking out over the west end of Princes Street gardens. The price for the body only will be £2,100 inc VAT from Sony Style Europe and the camera will be delivered in October – SonyStyle begin taking orders on September 10th.
Sony chose the anniversary of the Battle of Flodden Field (September 9th, 1513) for the launch conference and the anniversary of the last battle fought between England and Scotland as two nations (Pinkie Cleugh, near Edinburgh, September 10th 1547) for their field trip… the English press were made most welcome!
Duncan McEwan, Scottish regional organiser for the Photoworld Club and a regular contributor to the magazine, played a key role in the launch as one of the European beta testers who has been using the camera over the summer period.
Duncan has used the A900 with the 24-70mm and 70-200mm SSM only, and tells me that his main interest was to see whether it did what he wanted – not to compare it with the A100, A700 or any other camera!
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Historic photos go on to Flickr
The National Media Museum in Bradford has become the first UK institution to make sections of the internationally renowned National Photography Collection available to millions worldwide through online photo management and sharing application Flickr™. (more…)
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Alpha 900 – finder and frames
It’s not going to be long before we see the Alpha 900, and some cameras are known to be out there on trial in the hands of Sony staff and pre-release testers. I am not one, so rest assured, this is not a leak! What can you expect from the Alpha 900’s full-frame prism finder?
(Note: this post was written in early August – it is now 100% certain that the finder is 100%, and at 0.74X magnification will be – as had been hinted – the largest of all current DSLR finders in apparent visual terms except the EOS 1Ds Mk III which is 0.76X. Comparisons: EOS 5D 0.68X, Nikon D3 0.70X). -
PDSA photogenic pet photo contest
Leading UK veterinary charity, PDSA, has launched its search to discover the UK’s most photogenic pet. If your pet has star quality and is always posing for the camera, then why not enter their photograph into the PDSA pets’ gallery competition? (more…)
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Nikon's new D700 FX camera
Nikon announced and released their long awaited D700 camera today in London, bringing the D3’s FX sensor to a wider market. dPhotoexpert was at the launch event. The D700 is closer to the D300 in physical design yet retains many of the D3’s advantages – in fact, it’s easier to say what it loses, other than weight and bulk, rather than what it offers.Compared to Nikon’s flagship camera, the D700 offers one CF card slot, a 95% viewfinder coverage for the 12.1Mp sensor which has a new dust reduction system similar to the D300, and a slower frame-rate still twice the speed of a Canon EOS 5D – with the optional battery grip, it can manage 8 fps, and with standard EL3a batteries it delivers a respectable 5fps. The weather sealing is slightly improved over the D300, and the viewfinder/prism design is similar to the D3 but incorporates a pop-up flash. (Report – Richard Kilpatrick).
The D700 goes on sale in July with a UK RRP of £1999 inc VAT – more details will be added soon.
More details added by David Kilpatrick –
* Capture NX2 is required to process the raw files, and there is no update for either View NX or Capture NX (1.3.x) on any Nikon website to allow these to process D700 files – yet. Capture NX2 is provided as a 60-day free trial with the D700, but the CD does not update registered, purchased copies of NX. I’ve installed NX2 but the experience is not helpful when it comes to assessing the quality of the images – for this, I almost have to have ACR and to be able to study larger output sizes rapidly in the raw conversion window.
ACR and Lightroom are now updated to work with the D700, and the same goes for an increasing number of other raw conversion utilities.
We have an D700 here, we are using it now – the high eyepoint type viewfinder is one radical difference between this and the D300 body, and the experience of using the D700 is very different.
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Pentax Optio W60 – zoom underwater
PENTAX UK has today announced the release of the Optio W60 compact digital camera. The W60 boasts improved underwater performance that enables it to operate at depths of 4 metres for up to 2 hours. It has also been dust and sand proofed to a certified JIS Class 5 Standard and can operate in temperatures as cold as –10°C, making it the ideal choice for both winter and summer holidays, as well as water and extreme sports.
One of the lightest waterproof cameras ever developed, it features a 10 megapixel sensor for exceptionally sharp images. It has also been fitted with a newly developed 28mm wide angle lens, which incorporates an impressive 5x optical zoom. The lens, designed specifically for the Optio W60, covers a focal range from 5mm to 25mm (approximately 28mm to 140mm in 35mm format) and features a refraction lens system so the lens never protrudes from the body while zooming. This flexibility enables the user to capture a wide variety of scenes, including expansive landscapes, architecture, and crystal clear telephoto shots.
In addition, the Optio W60 boasts enhanced video capabilities and can capture movies at resolutions as high as 1280 x 720 pixels, which is comparable to High Definition TV. The movie function also incorporates Pentax’s Movie SR (Shake Reduction) technology, which automatically corrects camera shake, and has been optimised for use underwater with the Underwater Movie Mode, which makes use of specific settings for shooting.
The Optio W60’s Face Recognition AF & AE function has also been improved to deliver beautiful portrait shots from a single setting. The W60 can now automatically set the focus and exposure, so that it can detect up to 32 faces at one time – all in as little as 0.03 seconds. This is complimented by a SmileCapture mode, which waits until the subject is smiling before releasing the shutter, and Blinking Detection, which alerts the photographer if the subject blinked at the point of capture.
The camera also features advanced Auto Picture which automatically selects the optimal scene mode from seven different options – Flower, Sport, Night Landscape, Portrait, Night Scene, and Standard modes. It also has a highly sensitive Digital SR (Shake Reduction) mode, which compensates for camera shake and subject blurring during still-image photography. This mode automatically adjusts the sensitivity, up to a maximum of ISO 6400, in keeping with the subject’s brightness, to permit a fast enough shutter speed to capture a sharp, clear image. In addition, an electric shake reduction function corrects blurring in images during image playback.
Finally, the 2.5-inch high-resolution (approximately 230,000 dots) LCD monitor is finished with an AR (Anti-Reflection) coating that cuts glare from reflections of external light while being bright enough to be viewed easily even in bright sunlight. The monitor’s wide viewing angle — about 170° both horizontally and vertically — means photographers can conveniently check their shot from nearly any angle.
Other features
- Macro mode can be used as close as one centimeter away from a subject for stunning close-up shots
- Digital wide function merges two shots into one image for ultra-wide-angle expressions equivalent to a focal length of approx. 21mm in 35mm format
- Our proprietary SP (Super Protect) coating adds superior water repellency to the lens’s front protective glass to prevent water droplets from forming
- Optional Optio W60 Skin O-CC812 (sold separately) guards the camera from scratches and dirt
- Panorama mode stitches a series of up to three shots into one wide photo
- Intelligent zoom function extends the zoom range without compromising the optical zoom’s image quality
- Supports SD memory cards and SDHC memory cards
- Approximately 36.4 MB of built-in memory
- Frame composite function allows photographers to shoot and create images with decorative frames; 80 styles to choose from
- Date and Time imprint function for easy image categorizing
- Includes the ACDSee for PENTAX 3.0 image viewer/image management software, that supports Windows VistaTM
- Supports PictBridge, DPOF functions, Exif Print, and PRINT Image Matching
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The revealing pixel
Libraries like Alamy are demanding model releases even for crowd scenes now, if the image is to be sold as Royalty Free or offered with Rights Protection for commercial advertising. Either way, they want signed paper! This restricts all street scenes and many place-shots to Licensed (normal, editorial-only) status. Other libraries or portals will not accept unreleased people shots of any kind at all
The latest DSLRs – notably the Pentax K20D, Samsung GX20 and Sony Alpha 350 – offer over 14 megapixels in the small 1.5X factor format. Later this year we get 24 megapixels in full frame, but 14 on APS-C is higher density and will reveal more detail in the cropped area of the shot.
Here, snapped with the Pentax K20D (14.6 megapixels) is a crowded beach in Gran Canaria on a Spanish bank holiday Sunday before Easter. At this stage it is relatively empty 🙂 No-one gives a second thought to a camera with an 18-55mm kit lens. It is not as if this overdressed British tourist is waving a big white tele at them.
What they do not realise is that every single person on this beach is identifiable right down to the wrinkles on their cellulite, and worse things. Today’s DSLRs can pull out a section worthy of Breughel (though parts look more like Bosch) and show as much detail as you would once have expected from rollfilm:
This is cropped and reduced from an export using Adobe Camera Raw from the original .PEF file up to 6144 pixels wide (75 megabytes file size) – to view the full size crop click the image. It is exported with Sharpening set to 0, NR set to 0, and no post processing is applied to enhance detail. It is, as you would expect, slightly softened by the anti-aliasing filter and de-Bayer process but with a wealth of detail present.
Ten years ago you would have been happy to see an 640 x 480 digital camera picture looking as sharp as this crop. So, given web use of images, the picture libraries are right. A model release is needed for any commercial use of any scenes with people in, no matter how many people and how far away.
Today’s and tomorrow’s digital SLRs are going to capture scenes the photographer is not even able to spot when composing the shot, and may cause anything from embarassment to lawsuits because of the clarity of their information.
Be warned! And remember, too much sunbathing is damaging. Cover up…
– David Kilpatrick
