On that, I will be testing it out for myself and will likely have some videos explaining some of the differences and how to use some of the new features. Look for that soon!

Download the Beta here:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4/

According to this blog post by Adobe http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2011/11/adobe-creative-cloud-and-adobe-creative-suite-new-choices-for-customers.html?PID=2159997 you will be required to have CS5 or CS5.5 in order to upgrade to CS6. *Whoa, wait a minute!* Do they expect everyone to run out and upgrade to the CURRENT version just so they can purchase the UPGRADE in a few months? What a waste…

I see this as a little greedy on Adobes part. After all, how many people have been using the older version because they can’t afford to upgrade to the current version every year or two? (Considering the cost of the suite, it’s simply not practical for some people to keep it up-to-date every time they release an upgrade.) I can understand that they could clearly stand to profit from it because upgrading from several versions back at a discounted price is somewhat “unfair” for them as well. But why not just have a tier based discount, giving current version users the best discount and older versions a slightly reduced discount rather than forcing them to keep their versions up-to-date?

For what it’s worth, I’ve been using and supporting Adobe products since Photoshop was in it’s infancy, clear back to the early 1990′s. (Yes, Photoshop is over 20 years old now!) And I know so many other people have been doing the same. Heck, I’m currently using CS5, but not everyone is, nor can afford to keep upgrading their software every year or two. (Which often requires new hardware to keep up with the “improved” versions.) While Adobe does offer student discounts and such, I don’t see this change helping them sell more copies or upgrades. In contrast, I suspect this will only encourage more people to download hacked versions and thus costing Adobe money in the long run. (Seems counter productive to me, but I’m only a business student still so…)

Will Adobe fold like Bank of America did recently after announcing a $5 monthly service fee for “using” a debit card? Hopefully they will reconsider. More so after people like the well known Scott Kelby and others have voiced their feedback directly to Adobe about their concerns. (Adobe doesn’t listen to me yet, but I’m not a published master of Photoshop making a living essentially selling their products for them either.)

In any case, I think the more people that KNOW about this and voice their opinion to Adobe, the more likely they will reconsider and allow users to continue to upgrade from ANY version of the software without penalty.

None the less, I’m still working on a number of reviews, tests, tips and tutorials. On top of that, I hope to have all of the Adobe Photoshop actions ready for purchase soon. I have also recently updated Color Cloud to version 1.2 which now has quite a few new features and higher resolution reference images with the ability to scale and even collapse the app making it more user friendly. While I am still working on more “user requested” features, the next version will be awhile still so don’t hesitate to order Color Cloud now. (Plus, updates for the same major version are free for registered users!)

In any event, I would like to thank those people who find my blog helpful, share my articles on other sites and all those who have joined my little “fan club” on Facebook. And if you haven’t already, go “Like” us on Facebook now to get all the latest updates, freebies, contests, giveaways and other great stuff!

However, I recently had the chance to try out the best of the best, though that may be disputable to some. But regardless of how you see it, the Phase One IQ180 IS CURRENTLY the megapixel and image quality winner, hands down. The IQ180 is just part of the “kit” that makes up the amazing camera that I had the luxury of using hands on. Phase One formally only made the digital backs for “other” camera manufacturers, thus you would use their digital back on a Hasselblad or Mamiya camera body. However, since Hasselblad began making their own digital systems, Phase One was left with Mamiya. So, they joined forces (technically, Phase One bought a controlling interest in Mamiya) and are now offering what is the highest megapixel count medium format digital system in the world.

And then I woke up…

Combine the Phase One IQ180 digital back and the Mamiya (now Phase One) 645DF along with a dash of high-quality medium format lens (such as the Schneider-Kreuznach 55mm LS f2.8 lens) and you get one unbelievably fantastic digital capture in one unbelievably expensive package. I was actually told that the setup I was using was roughly $47,000 which is probably 10x the value of my current Nikon setup. But when held, rather than looking like a tourist with a fancy camera, instead I had the feeling that I should hold it above my head He-Man style and yell “I have the power!” but refrained from doing so considering all things.

While the Phase One setup IS a digital camera, that’s nearly where the comparisons stop with a “standard” DSLR. Ok, ok, I exaggerate a bit… The controls are actually very similar, the grip feels much the same, and although it’s no featherweight, I was quite surprised at how light it really was, thus making hand-held shooting quite possible in the right light. However, to really open this baby up and take advantage of the best parts, you really need a sturdy tripod, remote release and even better yet, switch it to mirror-up mode to get that out of the way before the capture starts to eliminate any possibility of even the slightest shake. As the megapixels climb, even the slightest of movements can cause the most tiny blur, thus a horribly out of focus image. (It’s not THAT bad, but it makes a huge difference when taking longer exposures.) I’m somewhat amused after reading so complaints from Nikon fans about the rumored 36 megapixel Nikon D800 that “oh that’s too many megapixels (referring to the D800), give me this and that instead.” But after using the IQ180, I must disagree… More IS better, as long as you can put them to proper use! However, I do wonder how many Nikon lenses can actually take full advantage of a 36mp sensor.

100% Crop on Full Image

Being somewhat limited on where and what I could do while I had access to this megapixel monster, I set myself up for what *to me* is a critical test of the system… A scene with a great deal of dynamic range, contrast and bucketfuls of detail to be had. Needless to say, a unique variety of buildings down a busy, downtown Denver street yielded the test parameters I desired. Thus, the test image with 100% crop sample to the right (click the image at the top of this post to see the photo without the crop sample). Sure, it’s not artistically appealing (actually I kinda like it to be honest), but it gave me everything I needed to put this thing through it’s paces. And it captured everything, and then some, with dead accurate, flying colors. Despite the strong contrast of the setting sun reflecting off the glass building windows to the dark shadows between buildings and on the darkest of objects, nearly every bit of the image has detail to spare. And it should considering the 16bit RAW captures, 13.6 EV dynamic range and unbeatable color depth (based on DxOMark test results). While several Nikon and one Pentax camera have a greater dynamic range, I feel that the Phase One gives a better “unmodified” RAW file.

With the below sample, I took these shots minutes apart using a similar focal length, position and equivalent exposure. The IQ180 sample is from a 100% crop, the Nikon sample is from the same crop, scaled up to match. Detail anyone? This is only a tiny fraction of the full image. The full size file is a jaw dropping 10328×7760 pixels! That’s more pixels HIGH than many of my multi-shot panoramic composites are WIDE, and that’s just ONE shot! For comparison sake, that would be a nearly 35″ x 26″ print at a full 300ppi. (Or roughly a 70″ x 53″ print at almost 150ppi still!) Click thumbnail for full size sample.

IQ180 at 100% crop, D300 scaled to match.

As with any super-high performance product, it has some drawbacks other than the cost. (Hey, a Ferrari is a terrific car for going around a track or to get a drink at the overpriced bar down the street, but it’s not exactly something I’d drive to the hardware store.) With that said, the drawback list is short, in my opinion. The ISO performance, compared to modern DSLR cameras, is considerably lacking. Then again, this isn’t your typical “chase brides around in a dimly lit church” type of camera. Odds are, you won’t be taking it to photograph from the sideline of a sporting event either. (If you are, more power to you!) However, they do offer several features to help when you do need to push the ISO. The first is “pixel binning” which combines the information of several neighboring pixels into a lower resolution, but lower noise final image. It also has the usual “dark frame” (frequently known as High-ISO noise reduction) which “captures” another dark-frame shot to allow the camera to calculate and remove excess noise. The last “drawback” is the fact that the RAW files are easily 50+ megabytes EACH! Process that with Capture One (Phase One’s version of Lightroom or Aperture) and export a 16bit TIFF at a full 80 megapixels and you get a computer seizing 480 megabyte file! Even my fairly up-to-date Mac Pro tower with power to spare had an issue once I took these into Photoshop, making editing quite a slow process. Don’t even think about loading these on your laptop to edit. In fact, I wouldn’t even begin to edit these without a dual processor system with at least 16GB of memory or more. (Even then you’d probably still be waiting on the Photoshop swap disk frequently.)

Phase One IQ180 on 645DF, processed in Capture One 6 Pro

What I DO really like about this system is the fact that as a photographer, it *SLOWS YOU DOWN* to think about your capture two or three times before you even reach for the shutter release. At which point, you inspect the file on the touch screen after capture to be sure it is sharp, in focus and their are no other artifacts. Their is absolutely no point in going rapid fire with this, it’s about careful planning before the shot and inspection after the shot. Honestly, I almost wish I could find the reason to do that with my DSLR, but it’s to easy to simply over-shoot and cull them later. (Even my modest 8MB CF cards hold 300+ 12mp 14bit RAW captures from my Nikon.)

My final thoughts… Well, I wish I had $100,000 or so to invest in a setup like this plus a nice array of lenses, a considerably faster computer and some travel money so I could come back with a handful of images worthy of Peter Lik. (Then wake up from the dream.) It’s far from being necessary for *MOST* photographers. In fact, unless your clients are paying you handsomely, chances are this isn’t for you. But if I had money burning a hole in my pocket, you bet I’d get one!

Since then, Adobe TV has put out their own high quality video which CLEARLY shows how well the module works (watch in full screen HD), and I’m clearly impressed. Obviously this works best with images blurred due to a motion path rather than being entirely out of focus. However, one image they demonstrate at the end does appear to be more OOF rather than motion blur, and it is recovered very well.

Personally, this could save some of those “almost perfect” shots that I had to skip due to the focus being just a bit off. Or while using a long telephoto, I end up with a tiny bit of camera shake which translates into a huge amount of motion blur. Which honestly is VERY difficult to avoid, even with the most sturdy of tripod and mounts.

None the less, here is the link to the Adobe TV video: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/max-2011-sneak-peeks/max-2011-sneak-peek-image-deblurring/

Sign in to Facebook and click the link below to go straight to the poll:

http://www.facebook.com/questions/182402061842376/?qa_ref=qd

As with any program in it’s early stages, their are things that got “left out”, as well as a number of changes that came up after the initial designing of the application. As such, I’ve been working hard to get those into the latest version of Color Cloud. In addition, the feedback and feature requests have been coming in, so I made it a point to try and get a few new requested features into this update.

First, I’ve added the check box which enables you to collapse the application down to just the title bar and menu so that you can work on an image or use an application without having to close the application entirely, while retaining the window settings (color preference, reference image and window scaling).

In addition to that, I’ve added the ability to hide the control menu entirely so that the app takes slightly less space while using it, and you get a more direct “connection” between the reference image in Color Cloud and the image you are editing. You do this using the “Hide Controls” option in the Color Cloud menu (Mac) or the Help menu (PC). Re-enable the menu the same way. I have also eliminated the border around the reference image so it fills the application. On a PC, the frame around the application is retained, on a Mac it now floats with no borders. Again, slightly less cluttered and a better connection between your image and the reference image.

Lastly, by request, I have added the ability to scale the application both 15% smaller all the way up to almost 70% larger, which makes the application easier to fit onto your screen, regardless of the size or resolution. Plus it helps to get a larger comparison as necessary.

Things I’m still working on include the ability to load your own images into the application, which will come in a future update.

Check out Color Cloud and try the demo: www.ModifiedPhotoGraphics.com/color-cloud/

Without going into tons of detail, I will let you enjoy the link to the page with the video here:

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/10/11/adobe-demos-incredible-unblur-feature-for-photoshop/

None the less, here is my first installment of “Articles worth reading”.

The first article here, found on the LensRentals.com website, Roger Cicala explains in detail the how and why of what makes a “good” or “bad” copy of a lens. After all, who would know better than someone testing multiples of the same lens back to back. (Which he does for this article.) It’s a bit technical, but it really does explain quite well why sometimes when we get a new lens it may not perform as good as we might expect.

Link: Notes on Lens and Camera Variation

The next article, covering a favorite topic of mine, explains fairly well how to photograph lightning. (Using nearly the same technique as I’ve “perfected” myself.) Don Peters explains in this B&H Photo blog the steps and settings to increase your odds of capturing lightning. (The same technique happens to work well with fireworks as well.) The only difference between my own methods and the ones described in the article is the fact that I set the ISO as low as I can and the aperture around F11 and then set the shutter speed to give me a 20-30 second exposure, but still keep the land/objects in the foreground dark but not silhouetted with the long exposure. (Refer to my lightning example above.)

Link: How to Photograph Lightning

And although this LAST link isn’t photography related, it really has some great information regarding Facebook and social media and how to use Facebook features to increase brand awareness, something we need to consider as photographers if we want to get repeat business. For what it’s worth, I have yet to implement much of what is mentioned on my own Facebook pages, but it’s still a good read.

Link: How to Optimize Your Facebook Page for Visual Branding