As I noted previously , Aperture and Lightroom dominated much of this fall ’s Photo Plus East show in New York , but that was n’t the only story . Here are a three other noteworthy products from the show ( stay tuned — more updates are on the mode ):
Leica M8Leica ’s stall was packed with photographers go to get a feeling at theM8 , the first digital version of the venerable M - series rangefinder cameras ( made famous byHenri Cartier BressonandRobert Frank , among others ) . Leica had plentitude of M8 model available for people to examine , and I can say that it indeed sense unlike just about any digital photographic camera in existence ( with the elision of Epson’sRD-1 , which was pose after the M - serial cameras ) . The television camera has a metal body , a 10.3 - megapixel CCD , a very nice mix of parallel and digital controls , and some innovative supernumerary , like a sensing element - cleaning characteristic . The finder was bright , and its mechanical shutter makes a really nice , satisfying sound . Which is sound , because at nearly $ 5,000 ( for the body alone ) , you ’ll want everyone around you to know that you ’re shooting with a very expensive camera .
The M8 ’s full-grown assets are its compendious sizing and the fact that it is compatible with nearly every M - series lens made since 1954 . ( These include some of the finest and sharpest lenses ever made . ) As is the fount with most digital single - lens instinctive reflex camera , the focal length of lens used with the M8 are slightly hyperbolise from their 35 millimetre film counterpart . The M8 ’s magnification agent is 1.33 , which means that a 21 mm lens is really a 28 mm lens .
While I got a luck to handle the M8 in the Leica kiosk , I could n’t view any pictures taken by the tv camera , so I ca n’t narrate how good the camera ’s output will see . ( Digital Outback Photo ’s Uwe Steinmueller has aLeica M8 diarywith some images and observations . )
I do n’t own a Leica , but I have shot with them , and they truly are mechanically skillful marvels . Every photographer I know who possess one swears by it as the best camera they ’ve ever owned — even while they burgeon forth with more New , reflexive photographic camera . Leica ’s reputation and its install base of users with M - series cameras and lenses , should guarantee that they ’ll sell many M8s , although I heard more than a few people grumbling about the monetary value , which is about $ 1,500 more than the price of a moving picture - based M7 .
LightZone 2.0Adobe Photoshop is the monolith that loom over everything in the paradigm - editing infinite , and I ca n’t see misplace its perch to Light Craft’sLightZoneany time presently , but , like the Lightroom - Aperture face - off , it ’s just to see an alternative .
I see LightZone 1.0 for the first time at in January , at Macworld Expo . Intrigued by an image editor in chief establish upon Ansel Adams’Zone System , I bought a written matter at the show , and play with it for a while . There were matter to like , but it was a 1.0 intersection with a few braggy holes in it ( something our referee found as well ) . In the preceding 10 months , Light Crafts has bear on to refine LightZone , and , at Photo Plus East , I got a demo of Version 2.0 , which adds a few raw features , increased carrying into action and a cleaner interface than the one in the premature interpretation . I walk forth ready to look at it again .
LightZone has a totally different feeling than Photoshop — it does n’t have the array of filter , tools , productivity assist and extras found in Photoshop , but that ’s the spot . LightZone ’s Maker , Fabio Riccardi , says that part of his rationale for creating a raw simulacrum editor is that Photoshop cover “ an image as a bucket of number , . ” I might call that statement a routine extreme ( the Zone System is actually a pail of numbers , is n’t it ? ) , but Riccardi is exploit hard to supply an alternative that appeals to a unlike class of user . It still needs some time to mature , but it has some very intuitive ways for working with images . Version 2.0 should be out in a few weeks , and a free 30 - day trial is usable ; it ’s priced at $ 150 for the full version , and $ 100 for a special Retouch Edition designed to solve in conjugation with plus managers and mental image web web browser like Aperture , Lightroom , Nikon ’s Capture NX , and others .
PrintFIX Pro 2.0I have spent the past three month printing boatloads of images on two Modern pro - level pic printing machine , Canon’sImagePROGRAF iPF5000 , and HP’sPhotosmart Pro B9180(reviews of both products should be online soon ) . Both gadget proffer specialised opprobrious - and - white capacity , which is the Holy Grail of print for many digital photographers , and one product I saw at the show , Datacolor’sPrintFIX Pro 2.0 , should be looked at by anyone concerned in printing fine - art images .
PrintFIX Pro creates custom colouration profiles for your display and printers , giving you more accurate color proofing on - screen , and more precise photographic print on any media case . Version 1.0 , which has been out for a while , offer a good set of profiling tools for vividness image ; Version 2.0 ups the ante by adding support for profile black - and - white images .
Graphic creative person and lensman be intimate that profiling is a freehanded deal if you want accurate , quotable color when print . Canon , HP and Epson ship a good set of profiles for their own paper , but if you want to publish on a third - party okay - artwork paper , you often have to play a guess game when publish : “ Which paper type is most like the one I want to print on ? ” This wastes expensive paper , and does n’t really give you any predictable sense of what an on - screen simulacrum will await like in photographic print . And , with monochrome images , it ’s even harder , because most printers built today are really optimized for vividness images , and the print drivers do n’t offer a lot of flexibleness over black - and - white printing . PrintFIX Pro looks like it could be a openhanded step ahead in this area . It ships afterward this calendar month for $ 549 , and comes bundle with a Spyder2Pro colorimeter . ( At the time this run to printing press , Datacolor had n’t update its Web internet site with information about the fresh version . )
