digital photography

Samsung gives the NX system a much-needed boost with a couple of key lens announcements: a nice-sounding yet reasonably priced 45mm f1.8 prime and what seems like a kit-quality 12-24mm f4-5.6 wide-angle zoom.

Both incorporate the system's i-Function intelligent operation, but they also both lack optical image stabilization; as more lenses arrive without OIS, I increasingly appreciate the cameras that use sensor-shift IS and are thus not dependent upon the manufacturers' decisions about the feature. It's true that as focal length decreases so do stability issues, but I've never met a focal length that couldn'… Read more

I'm happy for N.V., the Economist correspondent who revels in the joys of film photography by shooting with a Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex medium-format camera. But there's no way I'm going back to analog photography.

The digital revolution is here to stay, of course, but film photography isn't extinct. The Economist's reporter, after inheriting and refurbishing a 1937 camera, sings its praises. For example, the reporter "enjoys the challenge and forethought involved in setting up a shot with an analogue camera. The discipline of having only a dozen shots on a roll of 120 … Read more

ACDSee and its publisher, ACD Systems, have been on the scene for several years now, so it's not surprising to see how polished their flagship product is at this point. Getting started with the software is simple, yet the extensive feature set--particularly in regard to management of a large photo catalog--should provide users plenty of opportunities for learning how to master the application. With ACDSee 15, every step of the photo process--importing photos from cameras or other devices; cataloging photos in your library, applying corrections or creative edits to photos; viewing photo slideshows; publishing, printing, and sharing photos--is mostly … Read more

Updated 6/12/12 after a chat with Apple.

It didn't make the stage during the Apple WWDC keynote, but Apple rolled out a stealth upgrade to its Aperture 3 professional photo organization and editing software. Aperture 3.3 includes a variety of stability and performance updates as well as interface tweaks, most notably to support the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display; the biggest news for more general users is that the application now supports AVCHD video files.

Some of the changes sound like they're designed to make Aperture a little more consumer friendly. For instance, it … Read more

As a replacement for the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro that a lot of pro video and photo editors use, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display may sound mighty tasty. Faster innards, with a high-resolution, high-contrast 15.4-inch display and all the essential ports -- as long as you're willing to possibly have to waste one of the two essential Thunderbolt ports with dongles for FireWire and Ethernet -- at a lighter 4.5 pounds is a potentially winning combination if you've been schlepping around one of the older, heavier models. On the downside, still a glossy screen, though Apple claims less glare.… Read more

I'm not a big fan of Adobe's new business strategy, in which it begins to channel all its users toward subscription-based usage (although Stephen Shankland does a good job explaining why it's good for Adobe); to me it looks a lot like the way cable companies operate. But -- despite some gripes about incomplete implementations -- but with only a few reservations, I am a big fan of this release of Photoshop.

It's the first version of Photoshop to take video seriously and to make it into the Standard Edition of the product rather than the extra-pricey Extended version (which is moot if you buy via Creative Cloud). It's the first version to integrate the company's GPU-accelerating Mercury Graphics Engine (MGE). And for the first time in more than 20 years, Photoshop goes dark. … Read more

In addition to introducing its latest entry-level dSLR today, Nikon also debuted a new lens targeted at video shooters and D800 adopters. The fast, midrange 28mm f1.8 lens incorporates the company's Nano Crystal Coat, and Nikon claims it's designed to resolve on high-resolution sensors. Although the press release didn't mention how many aperture blades it has, I think we can assume that it's got a round iris.

The lens is slated to ship at the end of May for $699.95.

Just a few months after its first suite of Creative apps debuted on Android, Adobe makes good on shipping its flagship Photoshop Touch for iPad. The app, which is as close to identical to the Android version as is possible given the platform differences, is available on iTunes for the same $9.99; it requires an iPad 2 running iOS 5. Adobe says the iPadification of the rest of the Touch apps is under way.… Read more

Adobe tosses a bone to Android users who subscribe to Revel (nee Carousel), its Apple-only photo-collaboration service. Its new Revel importer Android app does exactly what it says and no more: allows you to upload images from your Android device into your Carousels. You can set it to autoupload, as well as upload straight from the camera. When you select photos to upload, the app will indicate whether or not you've already transferred them.

That's pretty much it.

If you use Revel on multiple platforms, this is disappointing. Forget the editing capabilities: you still can't sync Carousels … Read more