|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| . | |||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rangefinder
Magazine Digital Photography: by John Rettie
Photoshop CS and Panther In reality, Photoshop CS is version 8.0 of the image-editing program, and it even says so on the splash screen seen while loading. Adobe has more tightly integrated its graphics programs into what it calls the Adobe Creative Suite, hence the CS designation. While each program is available separately, as an upgrade or a full version, Adobe obviously is hoping users will go for the whole suite of programs, just as Microsoft does with its Office Suite. For this reason, I opted to get the complete Premium suite ($1229 full version or $749 as an upgrade), which includes Photoshop with ImageReady, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive and Acrobat. As I have only used Photoshop previously, I obviously have a learning curve ahead of me if I am to use the other programs. Hopefully I will get the chance to try them out with some future project, and then I’ll be able to report on how useful they are for photographers. Loading the programs was a single operation as they all use the same serial number, even though they reside as separate programs on the computer. The only glitch I discovered was that Acrobat added a couple of icons to Word without asking. For some reason that slowed down the opening of Word to a crawl—so much so that I thought the program had become corrupted. I realized the icons had been added, and a check on the Internet via Google quickly told me how to remove the offending icons. All was then well, but it’s a shame Adobe elected to have these changes made without warning and then not have them work correctly with Microsoft Word. I’ve only had the chance to quickly play with a few new features on Photoshop CS, but I was impressed by the speed of the improved browser. It’s now good enough for quickly viewing hundreds of photos after downloading. The new shadow/highlight adjustment tool performed remarkably well when I used it to correct a badly underexposed image. Another welcome new function aimed at photographers is a set of 18 photo filters that emulate color-correction filters, such as a warming filter (#81 and #85). Photographers who capture in RAW mode instead of JPEG will appreciate the plug-in that allows the adjusting of RAW images to be done within Photoshop. The images can also now be edited more easily in 16-bit with an increased number of plug-ins and filters available in this mode. Sadly, my initial experience with the new Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) upgrade was not as fruitful. I have read how Panther speeds up the Mac operating system and provides some cool new ways of improving the user experience. But, for the first time in 18 years of using a Mac, I was unable to get the new OS to load. It would freeze while reading from the CD and produce a blank blue screen without even opening the first installation window. A check on Mac forums and Apple’s own web site showed that it is critical to have RAM memory modules that meet Apple’s strict criteria. In addition, Apple states that it does not support third party graphic cards, upgraded CPUs or peripherals. Of course, my computer has all of those “suspect” items. As I have also read that some programs and printers do not yet work correctly with Panther, I have decided to install an additional hard drive and load Panther on that in order to keep my stable Jaguar (10.2.8) system intact. When I have a few spare hours, I’ll install the new 120GB hard drive I just bought for $80 (with a rebate) and remove the potentially offending RAM modules. Hopefully that will be all that’s causing the problem. If it turns out it’s the Powerlogix CPU upgrade or the ATI Radeon graphic card causing the glitch, I’ll skip Panther until Apple fixes the problems. It seems a shame that Apple has made Panther so touchy. Hopefully my report will be more positive next month. Canon
PowerShot A80
In November I found myself on a two-day trip to the Sahara Desert in Morocco to witness a test session for VW Motorsport’s Touareg off-road race car, which will be entered in the 2004 Paris-Dakar race in January. There were about a dozen people on the trip, and it was interesting to note that most of them had digital cameras. Only three of us were professional photographers, and we were all using Canon gear. When it came time for a camel ride at sunset, I elected not to carry my “heavy” EOS-10D and lenses. Instead, I opted for a small Canon PowerShot A80 digital camera that I happened to have on loan. Although it’s bigger than the Minolta, which incidentally was being used by two other people on the trip, the 4-megapixel A80 is still very pocketable. When it’s switched on, the 3X zoom lens (38–114mm, 35mm equivalency) moves out of the camera body making it less compact. Compared to other consumer cameras, the A80’s start-up time is reasonably fast, but at about two seconds, it’s still not as quick as the Minolta. With most camera manufacturers electing to use proprietary batteries, it’s nice to find the Canon A80 is powered by standard AA batteries. This is good news since it’s so much easier to carry a bunch of rechargeable NiMH AA batteries that can also be used in flashguns and other equipment. Obviously, AA batteries are too large for use in really small cameras, but they are convenient for cameras big enough to accommodate them. They are placed inside the reasonably sized handgrip on the A80. Unfortunately, the smooth finish on the camera body and handgrip, along with a lack of any molding on the backside for the thumb, doesn’t make it very easy to hold tightly. Considering this camera costs under $399 (retail price), it’s good to find that the camera is packed with features, such as a LCD screen that flips out and rotates, to help photographers of all levels of expertise. The rotating dial on top contains 14 shooting modes for different types of pictures. For those who know what they’re doing, there are manual settings and even two settings that can be customized. Shutter speeds range from 15 seconds (no bulb) to 1/2000 sec. ISO rating can be set on auto, 50, 100, 200 or 400. In addition, the camera can shoot low-resolution movies with sound.
One mode, which is a first as far as I know, is for capturing panoramic shots. The LCD display shows a frame plus about one third of the adjoining frame. Once the first shot is taken the exposure and white balance are locked so they are the same for the following exposures. Then as each shot is captured the screen displays one third of the previous exposure so it is easy to line up the next shot with a decent overlap. The specially marked files can then be imported into a Mac or PC. A program called PhotoStitch, which is included with Canon cameras, automatically aligns the images to create a panoramic photograph created from up to 26 individual frames. Another neat feature is in the manual focus setting. While the lens is being focused via the push button on the back, a magnified center portion on the LCD aids focusing. While many cameras in this league now sport 5-megapixel image capture chips, the 4-megapixel CCD in the A80 produces 2272x1704 images that are good enough for decent 8x10 prints. Processing is performed using the same Digic-integrated chip found in Canon’s EOS digital SLR cameras. The camera also features Canon’s latest PictBridge function that lets it print directly through a Canon inkjet printer without needing a computer. Overall, I was quite impressed with the A80 as a quality, solidly built point and shoot camera. It’s especially good at the price, which is about one-third what it would have cost three or four years ago. Such is progress. John Rettie is a photojournalist who resides in Santa Barbara, CA. He has been using a camera as a professional for 33 years, a computer for 23 years, and has combined his knowledge of both for the past ten years. Readers can contact him by e-mail at john@johnrettie.com or by snail-mail c/o Rangefinder. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
