Nikon DSLR Night Vision Adapter

LetsGoDigital has details on the AstroScope 9350NIKS-3PRO, a adapter that sits in-between your Nikon Digital SLR and any of your lenses; automatically making them night-vision capable. Very neat!

"In wide use with military organizations around the world, AstroScope’s battle field-proven design utilizes a state-of-the-art third generation image intensifier tube, with built-in technology designed to reduce halos and blooming effects. The image intensifier draws minimal power directly from the host-camera because it is only energized when the shutter button is depressed, protecting the unit from bright light sources. Measuring 5.0” (128 mm) in length, with a maximum diameter of 2.7” (68 mm) and weighing 22.8 oz (646 g) the AstroScope is the premier choice for professional photographers and enthusiasts who want to explore the world of nighttime photography."

AstroScope 9350NIKS-3PRO - Night vision camera Adapter
- Use High Performance Nikon Lenses and Retain Lens Functions
- No Back Focus Adjustment Required
- No Vignetting on Most Platforms
- User-Friendly, Rugged Design-Installs in Under 10 Seconds
- Powered Directly by Camera
- Cost Saving Interchangeable Gen 3 PRO Central Intensifier Unit

Improving the Details in Your Photos

Did you know your eyes are able to see a much wider range of light and dark values than your camera can record?

When faced with wildly differing light and dark values in a single frame, your camera can't record everything, so it has to make a choice. Usually, it does its best to meter for the average light in the scene. That means the bright stuff ends up being too bright or the dark stuff too dark... or a little of both. Those dark areas aren't lost, however. Often, they're hiding detail that the camera just barely saw. Make a few subtle adjustments in Photoshop, and you're on your way to an improved image!

Website Photojojo.com has a good article and short video that teaches us how to-

Find Detail in Your Photos That You Thought Was Lost… in Five minutes or Less!

If you're looking to improve your photos, this topic is 'need to know' stuff.

Photo Editing in Three Minutes

Photography website Photodoto has posted an article which shows how a few small adjustments can make a photo really stand out. It also shows that you have to start with a photo that’s already pretty close to your final vision. You’re probably not going to succeed if you have to make numerous, huge adjustments in an attempt to “salvage” a photo. As the saying goes: garbage in, garbage out.

"I really enjoy the process of editing a photo. Each one is different. And it can be a lot of fun playing with ideas, colors, highlighting this area, downplaying another. A single photo really does have a lot of possibilities depending on what you do with it. But I’ll often make a photograph knowing in advance the edits I’ll need to make to “develop” it."

Read Anatomy of a photo edit: Ready in 3 minutes

Complete Digital Photography, Third Edition

The Complete Canon EOS System Explained

Phillip Greenspun gives us another fine article in which he covers the Canon EOS system of digital single-lens reflex (SLR) bodies and lenses. Every component manufactured by Canon is covered, plus a few exceptionally good third-party components. Phillip goes through every section of the Canon EOS system and concludes with some starter system recommendations.

• Canon EOS Bodies
  
• Nomenclature
  
• Lenses
  
• Flashes
  
• Accessories
  

The article even discusses some recommended starter systems.

Canon EOS 5D

Read the Canon EOS System

Kodak Easyshare online Photo Book service

Looking for an easy online photo-sharing solution?  We're not talking about the likes of Flickr, who only let you share tiny, unorganized photos.

Now you can publish your photos with friends and family members with the new Kodak Easyshare Gallery Legacy Photo Book (see sidebar for link). Available today at the Kodak website, the Legacy Photo Book is the latest addition to the Kodak Easyshare Gallery Photo Book portfolio that also includes the popular Classic and Mini Photo Books. "Kodak Easyshare Gallery is committed to providing people with a variety of ways to share pictures and stories with friends and family," said Madhav Mehra, Vice President of Product Management, Kodak Imaging Network Inc.

"This new addition to the existing photo book portfolio makes it possible for everyone to publish the story of their lives in a big, bold way with this high quality book." The Kodak Easyshare Gallery Legacy Photo Book joins the immensely popular Mini and Classic Photo Books currently available at the kodak website. The newest addition to Kodak Easyshare Gallery's photo book portfolio provides consumers with a larger alternative to the 10"x9" Classic Photo Book and 7"x5" Mini Photo book. With the new Legacy Photo Book, Kodak Easyshare Gallery ensures you'll have the perfect size photo book to show off and share memories from any occasion.

- Starts at $69.99 for 20 pages. Each additional page is $1.49
- Printed on high quality, thick, professional premium photo paper
- Hardbound linen or leather cover measures 12"x14"
- Brand new page layouts include full bleed and nine picture collage among other popular layouts.

About Kodak
Kodak is the world's foremost imaging innovator, providing leading products and services to the photographic, graphic communications and healthcare markets. With sales of $14.3 billion in 2005, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy focused on helping people better use meaningful images and information in their life and work. Consumers use Kodak's system of digital and traditional image capture products and services to take, print and share their pictures anytime, anywhere; businesses effectively communicate with customers worldwide using Kodak solutions for prepress, conventional and digital printing and document imaging; creative professionals rely on Kodak technology to uniquely tell their story through moving or still images; and leading healthcare organizations rely on Kodak's innovative products, services and customized workflow solutions to help improve patient care and maximize efficiency and information sharing within and across their enterprise.
Tags: easyshare, kodak

Building a Digital SLR Camera

If you are thinking of getting yourself a digital SLR, I have found this excellent piece (Building a Digital SLR Camera System) written by Phillip Greenspun.

The article explains the different kinds of digital SLR cameras available, how to choose the right one for you, and what to do once you get it home from the shop. A digital SLR camera system, complete with lenses and accessories, can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000. This article shows you how to choose and buy the basic items first and the more expensive and hard-to-use components later.

Phillip goes through a comprehensive overview of-

• What is a single-lens reflex (SLR)?



• Who makes digital SLR cameras?



• What kinds of digital SLRs are available?



• Which big lenses/small sensor digital SLR to buy?



• Accessories



• Where to Buy
  and even goes through some sample projects you can try to get a good understanding of what a DSLR is capable of.

I recommend this read to anyone with or contemplating purchasing a digital SLR.
Tags: DSLR, digital slr

How to get started in Astronomy Photography

They say necessity is the mother of all invention. Yes you can find a reasonably priced tripod for your Powershot. I have seen them at Wally Worlds and such places. To do real astro photography, or meaningful astro photography you would need more than just a tripod. You can make filters or a filter rig for just about any camera for photographing the sun and the cosmos. To photograph the constellations on the other hand is a little more tricky. To get a good shot, you would need a tracking tripod, or one that is motorized to move at the same speed as the night sky. Like what most telescopes now have. The other thing that I might point out is trigger jerk. When most people take photographs they have a tendency to get trigger happy and jerk the camera. Now for a normal photograph in the day time, the film/chip is faster than there jerk, so to speak, and it is not that noticeable. But at night when you have a black sky and little points of light, then it becomes more critical and noticable. As far as time lapse you would have to check your manual. Most digital cameras do, mine do. Most camera manufactures offer for an extra fee an Infrared Remote trigger. I bought one and hooked it up to a 4 foot section of fiber optic cable. I mounted it to my camera/filter rig so as not to fog the chip on extended exposures. (All ccd chips used in digital cameras are sensitive to infared). One other point I might address is the lens. With the stock lens, I believe which is about 140mm on your powershot, you might wish to try the Afocal technique. Afocal coupling means aiming a camera (with its lens in place) into the eyepiece of a telescope. You can do this with any camera and any telescope. Digital and video cameras make it easy to see what you're getting. You can do the same with binoculars. Again necessity is the mother of all inventions. Google the phrase "digital cameras + Astro photography" and you will be suprised on what comes up. With telescopes, remember that it is the eye piece that magnifies the image from the objective lens, not just the scope. Back in the day, I started with a pentax film camera coupled to a 300mm super fast F2.4 lens.
Tags: astronomy, photography, astrophotogrpahy

Try Backlight in your Photos

Contrary to popular belief stunning photographs can be taken when shooting into the light. Whilst this may contradict advice given to beginners to always shoot with the light coming from behind the camera the art of backlighting is a technique that can produce wonderful images. However, many nature photographers are intimidated by the idea of pointing the camera towards the light and shy away from many worthwhile opportunities.

Phil McDermott has a nice article on The Art Of Backlighting and gives us the goods on how he has mastered this technique.

How Much Money do Photographers Make

Interested in knowing the average salary of a photographer? Well the answer to such a questions is always a little more complex and therefore requires a little thought before a solid number is able to be given. First of all, it should be noted that there is a wide discrepancy between the earnings of photographers. Some make very little money, others spend more money than they make, while still others make decent livings, some of whom even make upwards of $100,000 a year. However, according to statistics the average photographer makes between $14,000 and $54,748 with the median falling somewhere in between those two numbers.

If you want to be a photographer who makes more money than average you?ll need to be very strategic with how you approach your career. Read these tips to ensure that you earn as much as possible during your tenure as a photographer.

Tags: money, photographer, paparazzi

Converting Digital Images to Black and White

How do you convert your colour images to black and white?  Or should I ask- Do you convert your images to black and white?

Photodoto reminds us of the drama and power only available in black and white photography and tells us how to go about getting the best results-

"By eliminating color, black and white forces us to concentrate on other aspects of the photo. Textures. Lines. Something as simple as a surface receding into shadow becomes positively sensuous when care is taken in the conversion process. There are many techniques for converting a color image to black and white. The only consensus seems to be that simply converting to grayscale is the wrong way to do it."

Read Converting color images to black and white

Tags: BW, black and white, greyscale, grayscale

Buying A Digital Camera That Matches Your Photography Skill

For many folks buying a digital camera can be a confusing and bewildering purchase since there are so many models to choose from and so many different types of digital cameras. Unless you are a photography hobbyist you probably won't be familiar with all of the acronyms and language used to describe the features of each camera.

Thad Pickering has written Your Guide To Buying A Digital Camera That Matches Your Photography Skill and provides general suggestions but hopefully they can help point you in the right direction so that you can more easily select and buy the digital camera that will most closely match your photographic skills.

Start Today to Sell Your Photos

"I have a great product, and I know exactly where it can be sold at this moment. But the only thing standing between me and seeing my product in national circulation is procrastination." Have you heard this before? By applying the same management techniques that are used by successful businesses, you can move your stock photography operation forward.

Read Rohn Engh's article-

Start Today to Sell Your Photos

You're probably not going to find a lot of information on forensic photography. The truth is, this is an area of photography that your typical photographer does not get into. You're dealing with taking photos of people who have been brutally murdered and an assortment of other crimes. Forensic photography is not for the weak stomach. But just what is involved in becoming a forensic photographer? The course outline may not rival going to medical school, but it's quite a handful.

Michael Russell has written a short article on the topic iff you're thinking that this is something you'd like to do, head over and read:

Forensic Photography

ACD Systems releases ACDSee Photo Editor

Today, ACD Systems announced the release of ACDSee Photo Editor (http://www.acdseephotoeditor.com/) - an innovative photo editing application that offers memory keepers and photo enthusiasts the tools and guidance needed to turn their digital photos into something truly special and unique.

ACD Systems Introduces ACDSee(tm) Photo Editor - the Groundbreaking Photo Editing Software that Redefines Digital Creativity

New software teaches users how to be creative with their digital photos with easy-to-use features and guided walk-throughs that produce amazing creative results.

VICTORIA, British Columbia -July 6, 2006 - ACD Systems International Inc. (TSX: ASA),makers of ACDSee(tm) photo management software and Canvas(tm) technical illustration software, announced today the release of ACDSee Photo Editor - an innovative photo editing application that offers memory keepers and photo enthusiasts� the tools and guidance needed to turn their digital photos into something truly special and unique.

ACDSee Photo Editor helps photo enthusiasts of all levels turn their creative inspiration into photo perfection. From performing quick fixes such as lighting and red-eye correction to creating fun projects like scrapbook pages, CD covers, invitations, and more, Photo Editor walks you through the creative process, step-by-step, using interactive How-To lessons easy enough for even beginners to quickly master, yet powerful enough to handle the most creative details.

For people just starting out with photo editing, Photo Editor offers unique tools designed to make usually complex tasks much easier to accomplish. It does so by providing users with a sense of confidence and direction right from the very first time they use the application, so they can learn while doing, guided by the program itself.

Some of the major features in the programs that make photo editing easy and enjoyable for users include:

  How-tos:Offer guided walk-throughs of projects that teach you how to be creative with your photos step-by-step, from start to finish. That way, users can easily create CD covers, albums, and other great creative projects from the very first time they open the application.

  Vignette Tool:Creates stunning portrait-style photos in one simple action - streamlining and facilitating a process for new users that would normally require more advanced techniques.

  Adjustment/Filter Variations:Simplifies the creative process by displaying up to eight different previews of your original photo, right on screen, each preview showing a different variation of the effect, adjustment, or filter you're applying.

  Text Support:Simplifies the process of adding clever, descriptive text to your creative projects and provides the option to wrap text into thought bubbles or curve your text with a�simple click.

  Batch Process:Saves time by allowing users to perform certain processes like applying an adjustment/filter, copying objects such as logos, clipart, or images, or creating vignettes to more than one photo at a time with just a couple of clicks.

  Cookie Cutter Tool:Crops your creation into fun shapes like letters, numbers, animals, or shapes, or add distinctive borders to your projects with a simple click.

Photo Editor also contains deeper features that meet the needs of more advanced users. Advanced users can create complex projects in Photo Editor's object-based environment using selection tools, gradients, masking techniques, blending modes, and in-depth vector object support.

"Photo Editor is the next step in our strategy of offering exceptional products at a reasonable price for specific audiences," said James Latham, vice president of marketing for ACD Systems. "The product is made for the population of creative individuals without the time or inclination to master such complex products as Photoshop, but who nevertheless have the desire to imbue their photos with creativity."

Pricing and Availability

The full version of ACDSee Photo Editor is available in English for $69.99 (USD), $49.99 for the upgrade from ACDSee Photo Editor 3.1, ACDSee PowerPack, or FotoCanvas. For more information, visit www.acdsee.com.

About ACD Systems

Headquartered in British Columbia since 1993, ACD Systems International Inc. (TSX: ASA) is one of the world's leading developers and marketers of digital imaging software, including the renowned ACDSee image management tool and Canvas, an advanced cross-platform technical illustration and graphics program. ACD has delivered value to a global marketplace through Internet distribution and partnerships with manufacturers and developers.� ACD has millions of consumer and business users, and over 33,000 corporate customers including many Fortune 500 companies.� For further details, please visit www.acdsee.com.

ACD, ACD Systems, ACDSee, and FotoSlate are trademarks or registered trademarks of ACD Systems Ltd. in Canada, the United States, or certain other jurisdictions. Trademarks of ACD Systems Ltd. are used under license by ACD Systems of America, Inc. Canvas is a trademark or registered trademark of ACD Systems of America, Inc. in Canada, the United States, or certain other jurisdictions. Trademarks of ACD Systems of America, Inc. are used under license by ACD Systems Ltd.

Contact for Media James Latham Vice President, Marketing ACD Systems International Inc. TEL: (250) 544-6700 FAX: (250) 544-0291 pr@acdsee.com

Contact for Investors Doug Vanderkerkhove Investor Relations ACD Systems International Inc. TEL: (250) 544-6700 FAX: (250) 544-0291 ir@acdsee.com

THIS NEWS RELEASE MAY CONTAIN FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS BASED ON THE ESTIMATES AND OPINIONS OF MANAGEMENT AT THE DATE THE STATEMENTS WERE MADE AND THE COMPANY UNDERTAKES NO OBLIGATION TO UPDATE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS IF CONDITIONS OR OPINIONS SHOULD CHANGE.

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