Listen NOW…

Dan (Dano) Steinhardt, Marketing Manager, Epson Professional Imaging joins host Scott Sheppard for an update on their latest announcements including the new Epson Ultrachrome HDR ink set, the Epson Stylus Pro 7990-9900 and The Epson Print Academy. Dano explains some features and details, including the revolutionary color gamut, available in their new 24-inch Epson Stylus® Pro 7900 and the 44-inch Epson Stylus Pro 9900. Developed to serve the needs of commercial, flexo, and package proofing requirements, the enhanced printers offer high-density pigment chemistry, Epson UltraChrome HDR ink technology with all-new Orange and Green inks, and AccuPhoto™ HDR screening technology. The Epson Stylus Pro series also features an optional high performance, in-line spectrophotometer for commercial proofing applications. Developed by Epson in partnership with X-Rite®, the SpectroProofer™ incorporates a high performance X-Rite ILS20 spectrophotometer for extreme measurement and color output accuracy.

For more information on Epson’s Pro Imaging line visit: http://proimaging.epson.com

Dano also explains some details on their new Epson Print Academy, starting November 8, 2008 in Atlanta, GA. This 15 city tour features all new content in two main tracks; Track One, for advanced amateurs and photo enthusiasts and Track Two for working photography professionals. With topics covering all aspects of your workflow from capture to final prints, taught by the industry’s leading pro photographers and printmakers, the Epson Print Academy offers a great value on a day seminar full of hands-on how-to workflow tutorials.

For more information on Epson Print Academy visit: http://www.epsonprintacademy.com

The McNamara Report on Inside Digital Photo with Michael J. McNamara
This week’s topic: Are Medium Format digital cameras on the way out?

At the Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany this September, Hasselblad introduced two new medium format digital cameras, the H3DII-39 and the H3DII50. The Hasselblad H3DII-50 will be the first camera in the market equipped with Kodak’s larger-than-35mm 50 megapixel CCD sensor. In 2009, Hasselblad claims the bar will be raised again with the Hasselblad H3DII-60, a 60 megapixel version.The 39.5MP H3DII-39 is available from $ 21.995, and the H3DII-50 from $27.995. The Hasselblad H3DII-60, expected in April 2009, will have a price-tag of about $35,500.

At a press conference during Photokina, Hasselblad CEO Christian Poulsen contended that digital SLR companies won’t be able to compete with medium format because their lenses can’t handle the resolution. "In my opinion, for those cameras, the pixel game should’ve been over a few years ago," Poulsen told the packed crowd. "I don’t think you can tell the difference between a 16-megapixel camera and a 21 or 24-megapixel camera and that has nothing to do with the sensor, it has to do with the resolution of the lenses."

Is he kidding? Facts don’t support his statement about lens resolution and MP wars. And the real question is whether or not the higher price for these medium format bodies and lenses is worth it when compared to existing 21 and 25MP full frame DSLRs from Canon and Sony.

Read more insights and analysis from Mike McNamara on: http://www.mcnamarareport.com

Listen NOW…

Diederik van Heyningan, Manager & Photographer, Lightworkx Studio joins host Scott Sheppard for a lively discussion on their commercial studio work based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Diederik discusses some of the challenges but also some of the amazing opportunities and variety of work they have mastered based in a fairly remote location on the South Island. Diederik explains they were one of the first digital production studios and have won numerous color awards for their work. Lightworkx is a studio and also do their post-production work in-house. Diederik shares some tips about how they were able to use a locally developed color proofing system called "AbsoluteProof" that has, in his opinion, solved their color management and contract/remote proofing problems.

For more information about Lightworkx and their work visit: http://www.lightworkx.com or to check out their proofing solution, AbsoluteProof, visit http://www.absolute-proof.com/

The McNamara Report on Inside Digital Photo with Michael J. McNamara
This week’s topic: Another RAW camera format? How are we going to handle it?

It happened again, just when most photographers had been lulled into thinking we had seen the last new RAW file format. But noooo! Nikon surprised us by giving birth to a new one called .NRW that’s found exclusively in the high-level COOLPIX P6000 (This hot $500 compact boasts a 13.5MP CCD, 28-112mm f/2.7-5.9 stabilized zoom lens, built-in GPS, and up to ISO 6400.)Unfortunately, the Nikon engineers forgot something when they created this new RAW format—and it’s called Mac compatibility! Guess we should have seen that coming with a file extension called .NRW (Nikon Raw Windows).
So while photographers with PC’s running Microsoft Vista (and nothing prior to Vista) will be able to open and adjust .NRW files, the rest of the world is out of luck—unless popular RAW workflow programs like Apple’s Aperture, Adobe RAW converter, and Adobe’s Lightroom come to the rescue as they have in the past.

Read more insights and analysis from Mike McNamara on: http://www.mcnamarareport.com

Oliver Breitenbach, CEO, Boinx Software joins Inside Digital Photo for an update on their latest release of FotoMagico 2.5, the digital storytelling applications built for photographers. Oliver explains that at it’s most basic level is to create slideshows, but in the hands of creatives, wedding photographers, and journalists FotoMagico quickly generates very compelling short clips that incorporate your images, high-end transitions, synchronizes them to audio, and other effects which can be exported in a range of formats from web video to high definition Blu-ray format. Winner of multiple Apple Design Awards, FotoMagico currently runs only on Apple Mac OS leveraging the best development tools available on the platform that deliver an intuitive drag-n-drop interface.

For more information and to download a demo version today visit: http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/

Subscribe in iTunes… Click HERE!