domipix

<yawn>

But at least the reporting is pointing out the stupidity of this, and the growing resistance to it.

See here. Nice one Austin.

Someone always comes up with what they wanted to see - we want it all! But one thing I think I would have liked to see this time would be more advanced cropping, including some lens correction options. Specifically, being able to correct barrel/pincushion and trapezoid distortion would be most welcome. I was collecting together some photos earlier for a book, going back to older shots, with more basic lenses and the amount of times I had to get into Photoshop for simple lens fixing wasn’t funny. Maybe in 2.0 final?

A very nice update to Lightroom just landed. I’m already a fan of LR for various reasons - speed, non-destructiveness being the main standouts.

The beta adds a few things I was just thinking the other day would be nice to be able to do without having to open Bridge (not exactly my favourite Adobe product!) You can create panoramas from multiple selected images or merge them to HDR. Multiple images can be opened as layers in one Photoshop document and perhaps most interestingly, images can be opened as Smart Objects in Photoshop to preserve the non-destructive nature of Lightroom’s editing.

Possibly the killer feature this time though, is the Retouch brush. Local editing without going to Photoshop! For me, this changes the game quite a bit with Lightroom. Dodging and burning become nice and easy and other brush effects are available, like being able to paint in Clarity, Saturation and Tint. And once you’ve brushed around, it’s possible to edit the effect of your strokes after the event, combining all the effects together. All this brushwork comes with an Auto Mask and a couple of Brush presets. All very nice.

Other interesting features I noticed:

• Smart Collections, based on criteria including keywords, ratings, etc
• post-crop vignette (in addition to full frame, so they can be combined)
• 1:1 detail preview in the Detail palette
• use of second monitor (for Grid view, or Compare, for example)
• Split Toning gets a nice big colour picker
• Suggested Keywords (not sure how this works as yet…)
• Output to JPEG from print module
• Enhance Print Sharpening
• 64-bit support

Get it at Adobe Labs. Lightroom 2.0 Beta expires at the end of August.

Tangentially related (well not that tangentially) to my last post is this great outdoor work by Dr D:

[Via]

They’re at it again. The authorities want to make photography a criminal activity, at least as far as I can tell. And they want you to get involved.

This has been reported everywhere, and the web is teeming with responses to it.

One of the most apt responses was this:

Or maybe I just found it interesting because of the beard angle ;) I doubt the USofA would let me in with my passport photo! Here’s what Jesús (no, not that one) thinks of it:

If you’re good, I’ll let you see it…

(*Delete as applicable.)

Digital Photography Review has some samples from a beta of Sigma’s upcoming and LONG-awaited large-sensor compact DP1.

From what I can tell having a very quick look at these is that the detail as you’d expect with a Foveon sensor, and the dynamic range looks pretty too. Colour aberrations look pretty controlled in that lens too, as is lens flare, including when the sun is right in the shot.

Also to be expected, but nice to see pretty much confirmed is the very low noise on the ISO 800 sample. What little noise there is looks like “nice noise” too - nothing to make you recoil. That’s the main conflict of compact cameras for me: the times when I really need something smaller to shoot with is also exactly when I need good high ISO and/or low-light performance, like in a bar or club.

Yet another item for the Gearlust list! <sigh>

Gearlust. I’m going to need more money in 2008 I think.

Axiotron’s ModBook looks pretty nice and now it’s shipping.

At least this gearlust more or less obviates another.