PMA NEWS: WHACKY, BUT COOL NEW PRODUCTS AT PMA 2007
These whacky, new products have nothing to do with the inkjet industry; however, every year I try to find something new, innovative and totally off-the-wall for my readers at the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) trade show, which this year was held in Las Vegas, March 8-11, 2007. This can be a difficult search, since each year more and more exhibitors show up who are trying to cash in on the success of the innovators that were popular the year or two before.
The number one copycat product seemed to be the custom or "personal photo book", where you can submit your digital photos and they'll make a "custom" designed photo book (usually from canned templates). It seemed like there were three or four booths devoted to this type of product down every aisle in this year's show! My personal favorite is still Asuka Book (http://www.AsukaBook.com), which offers real custom design (your own in Photoshop) and great quality at very reasonable prices.
Despite the boredom, here are three innovative photo-related products, albeit a little whacky, that caught my eye:
Quik Pod - extendable, hand-held "tripod": Quik Pod allows owners of point-and-shoot cameras and camcorders (up to 16 oz.) to take their own pictures (to include themselves in the scene)! The pod works has a built-in self image positioning mirror. You attach your camera or portable light to the universal tripod mount of the retracted Quik Pod (7.5"), then extend the pod to its full length of 18.5" to hold your camera or light above the crowds, reach into hard to see places, or just to point back at yourself to take your own picture. The Daily Herald reports, "Take a great picture of your family without your hairy arm showing." The Quik Pod is $24.95 (http://www.QuikPod.com). A "pro" version for $29.95 adds a small tripod feet accessory (screws into the handle) that enables the Quik Pod to stand on its own.
ZIGView S2 Digital View Finder: The ZigView S2 ($479.00) was this year's DIMA "Innovative Digital Product" winner. This digital view finder inserts into your SLR camera's viewfinder and relays a real time image to its movable (315 degree rotation) LCD screen (2.5"), enabling photographers to have various angles for the best shooting environment. The viewfinder sensor and LCD display modules can be separated with accessory cables (over 21.5 meters) making remote monitoring and control possible. Note: Seculine's Web site (http://www.secu-line.com) was still featuring last year's SC-V100R model, and has not been updated with the new S2 model at the time of this writing.
WK-36 Electric Helicopter: This $349.95 Digitronics (http://www.digittronics.com) ready-to-fly, 6-channel, radio-controlled, electric helicopter can stay aloft for about six minutes on one charge from a 3-cell lithium battery. The chopper can carry up to a 1-pound payload, i.e. their $299.00, compact, (6 oz.) "High Definition" (720 x 480) DDV-6120A Digital Camcorder with motion stabilization, Panasonic's CCD low light sensor, and a 3" TFT super wide LCD screen. MPEG 4 compression technology. SD memory card based recording. Supports up to 4GB size SD cards (up to 1 hour of "HD" video recording per GB). The camcorder also functions as a 12-megapixel (3796 X 3472) digital camera.
PMA NEWS: NEW LIFE FOR FUJIFILM'S VELVIA 50
In a pre-PMA news release on February 22, Fujifilm USA announced that it was re-introducing Fujichrome Velvia 50 for Professionals (RVP 50), a high color saturation, high contrast transparency film at the PMA 2007 Annual Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas, NV.
Although this is an inkjet-related newsletter, one still has to capture an image before you can print it. And while I and many others have gone totally to digital image capture, there are still some who use film and were saddened when Fujifilm announced in the beginning of 2005 that they would discontinue making Velvia due to difficulties in procuring some of the key raw materials used to produce the product.
Velvia 50 has been a favorite among many pro shooters, particularly landscape and nature photographers, since its introduction in the mid-1980s. Some have called Velvia 50, "cartoon color" because it exaggerated the colors, especially greens. However, I for one, liked that skew of the world. Until digital capture came along, Velvia was the only film that gave me the vivid color and high saturation that I was looking to see in many of my photographs.
The company received many requests from photographers worldwide to restart manufacturing, as they had used Velvia for many years and consider it unmatched in terms of quality and character. Those requests were taken very seriously by the executives at Fujifilm.
"We are so pleased to respond to requests from our photographer customers in this way and we look forward to seeing the work they will produce with this wonderful new film," said Christian Fridholm, Director of Marketing, Picture Taking, Imaging Division, Fujifilm USA.
Fujifilm claims that the characteristics of new Velvia 50 will mirror that of the previous Velvia, even though the company will be using some substitute raw materials and new manufacturing technologies. The initial shipments of the new Velvia 50 are scheduled for early summer 2007.
PMA NEWS: GREATER ACCEPTANCE FOR THE "FOUR THIRDS" SYSTEM
Seven companies now support the Four Thirds digital camera system open standard.
For high-resolution digital capture, most professional photographers have turned to either the Canon or Nikon digital camera systems, but a few pros, and an even a higher number of prosumers have turned to Olympus, who with Kodak, initiated a new digital system standard called Four Thirds. Since then, the number of companies to support the Four Thirds standard has rapidly risen to seven: Eastman Kodak, Fuji Photo Film, Leica (Digilux 3), Panasonic, Olympus, Sanyo, and Sigma.
All seven of these companies have come together to support this new open standard in image sensor size and lens mount, which means that any of the Four Thirds lenses made by any of these companies will fit and work on ANY of the other Four Thirds camera brand bodies. This is a major step in compatibility between brands! This means that if you like the new, 10 MP, Olympus E-400 camera (the world's smallest and lightest D-SLR at only 375 grams), but you love Leica optics, you can now have both! It also means that your investment in digital equipment should now have a slower depreciation factor.
Unlike other digital camera systems that have been slowly adapted from analog 35mm cameras, the Four Thirds standard has been developed for digital from the ground up. Over the years, the design of SLR cameras was like a secret art handed down in the family. Each manufacturer maintained its own standards and traditions. However, to facilitate faster development and innovation of the Four Thirds System, Olympus early on considered establishing it as an open standard.
Designers and engineers at Olympus felt that this was the opportunity to review the optimum size of the SLR camera, and to them, the OM-1 (introduced in 1972) had long been regarded as the original compact, lightweight SLR camera, the camera that first challenged the conventional wisdom of what an SLR should be. In the fall of 1999, Olympus engineers selected the 4/3-type image sensor as the basis for a new digital standard that would provide balance between the picture quality expected of SLR cameras and the compactness needed to ensure high mobility at the highest level. But it was not until June 2003 that the first Four Thirds-based SLR camera, the Olympus E-1 was announced.
The 4/3 Theory: A Four Thirds image sensor has an aspect ratio of 4:3, unlike the typical 35mm SLR style image sensor's aspect ratio of 3:2Ñwhich mimics film. The diagonal size of the 4/3-type image sensor is about half that of a 35mm full frame sensor. This means that the focal distance required to obtain a given angle of view is half that needed for a 35mm film camera. As a result, the optical system can be made much smaller. Moreover, because the effective aperture can be reduced without reducing brightness, the Four thirds system makes it possible to design much brighter lenses.
The foundation for the high picture quality of the Four Thirds system is the lens mount, which is about twice the diameter of the image circle. This extra headroom allows much more freedom in lens design and ensures sharp, clear imaging performance. (By the way, Olympus has a lens mount adapter that allows old OM system lenses to work on the Four Thirds system mount!)
Benefits of Four Thirds System: The advantages of the Four Thirds system are now widely recognized around the world:
100% Digital Concept - Digital-dedicated design optimizes performance of the image sensor (the design and 4/3 ratio of the sensor allows for better optical performance, and at smaller sizes).
High Mobility - Compact design maximizes camera mobility (cameras and lenses are often up to 1/2 the size and weight of regular 35mm digital cameras).
Open Standard - Ensures expandability and compatibility of products from different manufacturers.
The complete case for the Four Thirds System Standard, which now has great momentum, is explained in a new Web site:
This includes the Four Thirds "story", a complete explanation of the "Standard" (and its benefits), the "Supporting" companies and their products (although we did not see all the lenses and camera bodies from Leica, Sanyo and Sigma listed here). While photographers by in large love the old 35mm 3/2 ratio, many are beginning to see the benefits of a new open 4/3 digital standard that has been pioneered by Olympus.
17X25 FORMAT GAINS IN POPULARITY
In our December 28th newsletter we mentioned that some photographers liked the 2:3 aspect ratio, but were limited to the 13x19 format. We offered to make 17x25 sheets in your favorite media. In our January 26th newsletter we offered three types of media in this format based on your input, with a 10% savings for those that pre-ordered.
On Febuary 16th, we sent out our first shipment, based on those pre-orders. ------>
Our Inkjetart Micro Ceramic Luster continues to be your favorite as this format gains in popularity
TIP: 20 WAYS TO CLEAN YOUR DIGITAL CAMERA'S IMAGE SENSOR
While at the 2007 PMA trade show in Las Vegas, I ran into Curt Fargo at his "The Dust Patrol" booth. Although Curt and his associates' main purpose was to market their new "D-SLR Brush", Curt introduced me to a new Web site he has created to help demystify digital SLR sensor cleaning, and describes 20 methods to do it:
What makes this site unique from all other places that sell sensor cleaning supplies is that their information appears to be very unbiased - they don't offer information on only one method, but offer information on ALL major methods, and tell you the pros and cons of each method. In addition, Curt is a certified photographic consultant and a professional camera repairman. He has also enlisted the advice of Larry Lyells, Camera Repairs most published author. This is a GREAT resource, with plenty of how-to and make-it-yourself instructions!
I don't mind giving a plug for Curt's own invention, the "D-SLR Brush" that sells for $24.95. These fine-bristled nylon brushes (quality made in Germany) are about $75 less than the popular "Sensor Brush" brand. Both brush brands are energized to attract dust by blowing air through it, creating a static charge. This effect is called the triboelectric effect. This not only charges the brush but it helps dislodge and remove any previously captured dust particles still in the brush. With a freshly charged brush, you whisk ever so lightly across the sensor, and the charge on the soft bristles attracts the dust from the sensor onto the bristles leaving you with a clean sensor.
Using this proven method, most dust can be quickly and easily removed from the camera's image sensor. Less than 5% of sensor dust attaches itself with moisture (or "Welded Dust"), which has to be removed by more time-consuming "wet methods" that Curt describes on his "CleaningDigitalCameras.com" site.
The "D-SLR Brush" and Curt's preventative dust control "ChamberSwab" are also sold on our site:
REVIEW: DIGITAL WORKFLOW SOFTWARE: EPSON PORTRAIT EDITION VS. EXPRESSDIGITAL
Epson recently introduced their new "Portrait Edition" of the Epson Stylus Pro 3800 and the 4800. The Portrait Edition is a software package that adds $200 to the cost of the 3800 or 4800, and is only available from Epson via these two purchase paths (as a bundle). This software is supplied by ExpressDigital, and is virtually identical to their "Darkroom Core Edition" package that you can purchase from ExpressDigital dealers for $495. There are, however, some important differences, and that's the purpose of this review.
Both the Portrait Edition and ExpressDigital's Darkroom Core Edition offer these great features:
Manage and archive digital images from your camera
Edit and enhance digital photos
Apply and make graphic templates (over 200 + custom ability)
Create limitless print packages ("nesting")
Make & show customer presentations
Sell photos on-line with ExpressDigital's PhotoReflect.com
Epson touts their Portrait Edition as the "Complete Photo Business in a Box," adding that it "...gives wedding, portrait and event photographers simple yet powerful way to manage, produce and sell prints to clients." (Currently, Epson's January 16th news release is still the best product information on this package.)
ExpressDigital says the their Darkroom Core Edition, "...allows photographers to create limitless print packages, apply graphic templates, edit & enhance photos, manage images, archive images, and more."
MORE INFO: Since both products are virtually the same, we suggest you go to ExpressDigital's Darkroom Core Edition product page for more complete information on what this product can do for you. ExpressDigital's Web site has more graphic examples of how their product works, and a "try before you buy" trial download or evaluation CD. (If you decide to buy, InkjetART is a dealer for BOTH the ExpressDigital Darkroom Core Edition and the Epson Portrait Edition.)
SYSTEM LIMITATIONS: Both Epson's Portrait Edition and ExpressDigital's products only allow you to run on the Windows XP operating system. Mac users can use the software via Boot Camp.
IMPORTANT PRODUCT DIFFERENCES: Epson acknowledges that their Portrait Edition, "Includes ExpressDigital Darkroom Core Edition software customized for Epson printers." As we've said before, both software packages are virtually the same, but there are some key differences in functionality based on how Epson has "customized" ExpressDigital's product for Epson's printers:
Epson Portrait Edition
ExpressDigital Darkroom Core Edition
Availability?
Only with a new Epson 3800 or 4800 printer
Can be purchased as a stand alone software package
Cost?
$200 more than cost of printer alone
$495
Can drive how many printers?
Can drive 4 printers at the same time
Can drive 4 printers at the same time
Will work with what printers?
Only Epson's "8" series (3800, 4800, 7800, 9800) pro printers
Will drive virtually any Windows based inkjet or dye-sub printers
RECAP: The two main differences between the Epson Portrait Edition and the ExpressDigital Darkroom Core Edition is price and printer functionality. Epson's product is $295 cheaper, but it only is available by purchasing a 3800 or a 4800, AND it will only work with the 3800, 4800, 7800 or 9800 printers. Although the ExpressDigital Darkroom Core Edition costs more it is backward compatible with the older (and smaller) Epson printers, as well as any other Windows-based printer, including dye-sub printers.
REVIEW: PHOTOBOT - EASY DIGITAL PICTURE CORRECTION SOFTWARE
Photobot is the easiest digital picture correction software for your “significant other”, but it might even have some applications for the busy professional.
I was introduced to Photobot at the 2007 PMA show in Las Vegas, where it was slated as “The World’s first Zero-Click picture correction software!” The makers claim you can get amazing digital pictures without lifting a finger.
Intrigued, I took home a free 30-day trial CD-ROM and installed the software onto my wife’s PC, for two reasons: 1) The software is not targeted for professional photographers, but is marketed more for the amateur picture taker, and 2) because it won’t run on my Mac (only on Windows 2000 or XP systems).
Now, before you professional types get immediately turned off to Photobot, let me remind you of all those people who constantly bug you to fix THEIR digital images because you’re a “professional photographer”, and it’s so “easy” for YOU! Yeah, right. And the next thing you know, you’ve spent three hours correcting their images because the exposure and color are so bad, but your professional pride won’t let you stop until you get it perfect, and you swear you’ll never let yourself get talked into this again, then you turn right around and do it again for someone else next week.
Before this happens again, turn them onto Photobot and say, “Let me tell you about a less than $30 program that’ll do this for you, and it has a zero learning curve.” Or, you can use Photobot yourself and continue to look cool, but invest only the time it takes to burn a new CD for the corrected images.
I don’t want you making any rash recommendations, so let me assure you that Photobot can do what it claims. I was impressed. It really does not requires you to learn anything or do any clicking, and it will automatically 1) brighten and correct all your bad exposures, 2) give your pictures more vibrant and lifelike color, and 3) reduce any red-eye the camera has failed to correct.
Although Photobot is a brand new software product, it is actually a combination of three older pieces of software that have been integrated together. Tribeca Labs, the makers of Photobot, have taken their $49.00 Photoshop plug-in, Full Spectrum RGB, and added an average auto correction into Photobot. As a stand-alone product for professionals (running on Mac or PC), Full Spectrum RGB is the only technology that expands the spectral capabilities of digital cameras to reproduce all the colors of the visual spectrum, and won the 2006 DIMA Innovative Digital Product Award (http://www.fullspectrumrgb.com.com). You might want to add this product to your list of Photoshop plug-ins, and use their custom sliders for optimum color spectrum control.
Perfectly Clear by Athentech Imaging (http://www.athentech.com) is the second component that has been licensed and added to Photobot. Perfectly Clear applies the physics principles of light to correct the exposure of every picture. This is the same technology that many professional labs use to brighten dark images, and the software won the 2005 DIMA Innovative Digital Product Award.
Red Eye by FotoNation (http://www.fotonation.com) is the third component that has been added to Photobot. Red Eye is the industry leading red-eye removal technology with a success rate of approximately 70%-80% and an industry-best false positive rate of only about 1%. Red Eye is embedded in over 50 million high-end digital cameras. Whatever red-eye your digital camera fails to correct, Photobot almost always finds and fixes.
Here are a few before and after samples of how Photobot corrected some of our family snapshots. It easily corrected all the red-eye shots. It really is quite remarkable. Exposure correction was dead-on. Photobot does improve color vibrance, but on some images, a pro could do a little better with a custom slider control in Full Spectrum RGB’s stand-alone plug-in, or with other Photoshop controls, i.e. hue and saturation. Photobot was not smart enough to change the pictures I shot under orange-looking tungsten lighting to a more natural daylight balance, but I was pleased on most everything else. All images below, Copyright Linda and Royce Bair 2007:
For most images Photobot does a better job at preserving the highlights, while improving contrast, than you can do by manually setting the white point and changing the gamma in Photoshop’s Levels, or by using the auto exposure control in Levels or Curves.
Here’s an enlarged section of the Pika picture (a rodent that lives in the high alpine regions of North America) showing three different different methods of exposure correction, and Photobot wins, hands down.
All three images have the specular highlights on some of the whiskers as the brightest part of the image (value 255), but the lightest fur on the Pika’s neck is also starting to blow out to value 255 in some areas on the “Photoshop manual set white point” image, and is totally blow out on the “Photoshop auto exposure in ‘Curves’” image. Photobot has more accurately preserve the detail of these delicate highlights because it’s patented Perfectly Clear anti-clipping technology analyzes every pixel and compares how each relates to the total image.
The hardest part of running Photobot is installing the software, and even that was fairly easy. Photobot is made to run constantly in the background, looking for new digital image files that you’ve added to your hard drive, where upon it automatically finds and corrects them.
I recommend that you make one custom change when installing the software, and that is to designate a folder or directory that Photobot will only look for image files to correct, and where the user will place any new images for Photobot to correct. Why? Because Photobot will correct the original image file and overwrite it to the same file name. (Photobot does allow you to revert back to the original if you want that option.) For amateurs, I guess this isn’t a problem, because the new image is better than the old one, it’s just that I always like to preserve the original file in a separate place in case I need to fall back to it.
Whenever Photobot discovers new images to correct, a small window pops up on your screen, and you can see the software working in the background as it “wipes” across your images one-by-one to process and correct them. With some dark and underexposed images, it’s as if Photobot wipes them clean with new bright colors! Processing time on my wife’s computer (Athlon 64 3000 Plus 1.8GHz, running Window XP) was about 11 to 12 seconds per image.
Some pros may find little use for Photobot because it will not process RAW files, only JPEGs. However, for many personal projects, I’d love to let Photobot handle the correction. When Photobot corrects and overwrites the original JPEG file, it does it at about a Photoshop “8” compression quality. My Canon EOS 20D full-size (23 MB), fine-quality JPEG files are typically about 1.7 to 2.9 MB right out of the camera. After correcting these images and re-writing them, Photobot reduces them to a new JPEG file size of 350 to 750 KB. That may sound like an awful drop in quality, but close examination at 100% shows little visible image deterioration or artifacts.
PRO APPLICATIONS? Photobot could be useful for professionals. Remember how well Photobot protected the highlight detail in the Pika example? Few professional jobs have more delicate highlights than wedding photography. If you shoot weddings, you might consider setting you camera to shoot in RAW and also save a medium size JPEG image. You can let Photobot process those JPEGs for proofing. Once the bride and groom have chosen their final enlargement images from those proofs, then manually process only those selected images from the RAW files—saving a ton of time and work. Even if you have a Photoshop Actions script that you like, you might want to give Photobot a try.
CHEAP IMAGE ARCHIVING. One reason Photobot may have in reducing the file size on the overwrite is to keep Internet file transfer times and storage space to a minimum. That’s important because Photobot has set up a Swiss Picture Bank to archive all your digital images. Photobot can automatically transfer your corrected files over the Internet to a Swiss bank where they will remain safe and accessible for generations to come. A free 3-month trial of their Swiss Picture Bank comes with Photobot. The execs at Photobot were still working out the pricing details when I called for more information, but they’re planning to offer 30-year archiving for as little as a penny an image!
FREE TRIAL COPY. Photobot is currently only $29.95. For more information on Photobot, and a free 10-day trial copy of the software, go to their web site at http://www.photobot.com.
PURCHASE: To purchase Photobot online from InkjetART, go to:
As mentioned earlier our 17x25 paper is great for people wanting to print a "full frame" 16x24. Our 17x25/50 sheet package of Inkjetart Micro Ceramic Gloss is on sale this week for $73.03 (regularly $91.29)
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"Inkjet NEWS & Tips" is published by
Royce Bair, Editor royce@inkjetart.com
Inkjet Solutions for Photo-realistic & Archival Fine Art Printing
http://www.inkjetART.com/
Inkjet Art Solutions
8100 s. 1300 w., Suite A
West Jordan, UT 84088
Phone: 801-256-0360 Fax: 801-256-0369
(c) Copyright 2007 The Stock Solution, All Rights Reserved
No portion of this publication may be reproduced or re-published
without written permission from Royce Bair or his stock photography agency, The Stock Solution.
Send your comments to Royce Bair royce@inkjetart.com.
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In our 
Intrigued, I took home a free 30-day trial CD-ROM and installed the software onto my wife’s PC, for two reasons: 1) The software is not targeted for professional photographers, but is marketed more for the amateur picture taker, and 2) because it won’t run on my Mac (only on Windows 2000 or XP systems). 
