PPS

This is an article Gavin wrote over at Seim Effects recently regarding Raw vs Jpeg and their usability with presets and good workflow techniques.

As a photographer I shoot in the RAW file format. I find more flexibility in post production, and ultimately a better image quality with less hassle. When I was still in the Jpeg camp, I was told to shot RAW mainly because it was faster to edit! While using Jpeg I never quite got it, and felt my Jpeg workflow worked fine. Then I tries RAW! I soon realized that it was not only faster, but also had better quality. Now I know there’s some debate on this issue, but I feel I can get great images easier with RAW because there’s more information on the file to work with. It just makes sense.

Having said all that there are still Jpeg shooters. In a poll on Pro Photo Show we found that raw shooters currently make up for about 75% of photographers towards the advanced and pro end of the market. Of course the closer you come to consumer shooters the more Jpeg you’ll see

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Nikon Europe has just announced Nikon’s newest entry level digital SLR, the D60. Some of the key specs are a 10.2 mp sensor, 2.5″ LCD screen, and 3 fps continuous shooting. ISO range from 100-3200(simulated H1) as well as compatibility with SDHC cards and much more. Check out the complete press release including a full specs list as well as some additional images over at the Digital Photography Review website.

The rebel XTI is going out to make room for the new kid on the block, the Canon Rebel XSI (these names are getting old and confusing)

Shipping in April this baby will sport a 12.2 MP sensor, 3″ live view LCD, and 3.5 FPS. Not a bad looking offering for around 8 bills

Interestingly (and maybe bad for some) Canon seems to have phased out Compact Flash on this one. Only SD / SDHC media.

Rumor no more. Today Pentax officially announced the K20D, and the K200D digital SLR’s.

The 20D with a 2.7″ live view screen, a 14.6 mp sensor dust removal, and iso 3200 it may not shake up the industry but does seem like a solid piece of gear for just about 1300.00

The 200d the 20D’s little brother still specs out with 10.2 mp, 2.7″ screen, and dust removal. You only get iso 1600 on this which seems a bit low for today market but at 800 bucks it again a pretty solid camera.

Pentax is also scheduled to launch some new lenses which is great since glass is so important. There not a Canon, or a Nikon but competition is great and they seem to be a growing force. If they can just advance their technology a touch faster they can really start putting heat on the bug boys!

New SLR’s have been foreseen from Pentax over the past few months and the rumors keep growing. The two new models are said to sport bigger screens, more megapixels and all kinds of neat stuff. More over on Engadget.

It’s thought that Pentax will get official with these by the end of the month. The above shot from LivedoorBlog is in Japanese so unless you can read it, we’re out of luck on those exact specs but they look like pretty solid offerings.

In a recent press release, OnOne software makers of popular photo plug ins such as Genuine fractals, Mask Pro & others, have announced their acquisition of Liquid Resize Technology. This may sound boring but it’s actually pretty amazing. In two words.

Rather than a normal resize, which distorts your image if you apply a size other than one that matches the original aspect ratio, Liquid Resize finds uses a technique called “Seam Carving” to add information to areas that DO NOT distort the critical subjects in then image. We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime the video below shows it in action!

Whats this all mean to us photographer. Hopefully it means that we can finally resize images without always having to concerned about the aspect ratio of the image. OneOne has stated that the software should be available for purchase sometimes in 2008. Pretty cool stuff!