DNG submitted as ISO standard

Adobe have submitted the DNG (Digital Negative) RAW file format to the ISO as a proposed new standard, according to Adobe’s John Nack.

Adobe DNG was first released a couple of years ago, but has struggled to gain real traction with most camera manufacturers, who continue to use their own proprietary formats.

“When we came out with the first camera RAW plug-in, we were supporting around 25 cameras. We’re now supporting more than 175 cameras—in other words, more than 175 different file formats.

And when you’re talking about images, people don’t want to keep those images for just five or 10 years. Professional photographers want to know those images will be fine for 50 years—100 years—from now. If you think about the rate of new-camera introductions, how many new file formats will there be?”

John Nack also revealed that a DNG-viewing codec for Windows Vista will be released very soon, allowing DNG files to be viewed using the operating system.

Nikon D200 digital camera

A couple of friends have recently been enthusing about the Nikon D200 digital SLR camera so I thought I should give it a mention here.

The Nikon D200 was announced in November 2005, almost three and a half years after its predecessor, the D100.

While it occupies the same place in their lineup, between the high-end pro cameras (the D2Xs) and their consumer line (currently topped by the D80), the D200 really goes far beyond what would normally be considered as a prosumer model.

In virtually every detail, the Nikon D200 creates a new category, that of a compact professional SLR.

The Nikon D200 takes up second position in the ranks of the company’s most formidable SLR bodies, marking the fourth home run they’ve hit in the last two years. The D200 is worthy of both the praise and the price. This 10.2 MP beauty is a serious bit of kit and currently retails for about $1700.

You can read the full review at Imaging Resource and check it out on Nikon’s website.

Your photo on canvas

When you want more from a photo than just a paper print, you could get your photo printed onto a canvas.

The Canvas Mill offers high quality photos on canvas, stretched onto solid wood frames, allowing anyone to create their own affordable artwork.

The canvas can be gallery-wrapped, where the image is wrapped around the edges of the frame (the preferred method) or the edges can be coloured, using a dominant colour from the image, or left blank to suit your taste and interior decor.

The Canvas Mill also offer a free photo-retouching service (such as red-eye removal) as well as cropping to create the perfect picture!

A photo on canvas will provide a stunning focal point in any space. A great way to display your favourite photo, with prices starting from as little as £20!

Protect your images online

If you’re a professional photographer (or artist) posting your images online, you’re no doubt aware of the copyright issues and the whole question of how best to protect your work.

Of course, in an ideal world, the simple addition of a copyright symbol © would be sufficient to deter others from using (or abusing) your images but, as we all know, the internet is far a from ideal place and posting photos or images online is an open invitation to others to help themselves.

A small copyright notice can be easily erased or cropped out of an image and anything larger will obscure the image and might be detrimental to the piece.

One solution is to embed a digital watermark in photos and images that you post online. OK, it won’t stop people from actually stealing your stuff but it will deter them (if they know it’s there) and will prove that you’re the owner of any copyright, and the originator of the work.

Sony Cybershot W300

It’s the toughest, most technically advanced Cybershot W Series camera yet. The slim, beautifully-styled Sony Cybershot W300 features a scratch resistant titanium coating that’s around five times tougher than anodised aluminium. Inside the pristine exterior, it’s crammed with latest-generation Sony technology to help everyone take better pictures.

An extremely high resolution of 13.6 megapixels assures detail-packed enlargements to A3 size and beyond. Optical performance is further assured by the top-quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with 3x optical zoom.

The large, bright 2.7-inch Clear Photo LCD screen offers outstanding resolution (230k dot) and contrast for framing and viewing shots, even when you’re outdoors. There’s also an optical viewfinder that offers extra familiarity for compact camera users switching to digital.

Photo of the day

If you’re a fan of photography… and I’m assuming you are, if you’re reading this… you might already know about Imaging Resource’s Photo of the Day contest. If you don’t, check it out!

This particular pic by Mariusz Jeglinski caught my eye, from last month’s Winner’s Gallery.

The photo is titled ‘Jumpin Jumpin’ and is a great example of capturing a moving subject and silhouetting a subject against a background.

The Photo of the Day contest is open to everyone and free to enter. The contest has both daily and monthly winners. Each day a photo is selected as the photo of the day and at the end of each month overall first, second, and third place winners are selected from the daily winners for that month. There’s prizes for the top three photos each month.

Photo hosting and sharing sites

I’ve tried out many of the online photo hosting and sharing sites - sites such as Picasa, Flickr, Fotki, Photobucket, MediaMax - and they all have different strengths and weakness.

The biggest problem I’ve found with most of these is either the ads they want to display alongside my photos, the protection and security of my images, the limitations they place on filesize, storage capacity and bandwidth or the sheer frustration of slow uploads and general availability (or lack of it!).

I’d all but given up on finding the perfect photo hosting and sharing solution… until I discovered SmugMug!

SmugMug addresses - and fixes - all of those problems. It’s customer focussed (not driven by advertising) and offers everything I want for hosting and sharing my photos online… no ads, no limits, fast, flexible, secure, reliable and completely customisable.

SmartWare Buyers Guide 2008

Image quality has always been a priority with Nikon. This lightweight, but solid, Nikon CoolPix P5000 upholds that fine tradition.

Professional-grade optics, 10 megapixel image resolution, vibration reduction to dampen camera movement and a clean, uncluttered design put the CoolPix P5000 near the top of the under $500 crowd.

In a rundown of cameras for ‘08, Dynamic Graphics SmartWare Buyers Guide 2008 provides the details for selecting the right camera - with the right features - for your projects and needs. Check it out before you buy!

Personalised photo gifts for Christmas

If you’re looking for a unique and original gift for someone special this Christmas, head on over to PhotoFun Studio and check out the range of personalised spoof magazine covers - designed to bring a smile to the faces of your family and friends.

The premium quality prints, with your own words and photos, are available framed or unframed from just £19.95 with FREE delivery to addresses in the UK.

Order before 14th December for delivery in time for Christmas.

Tag your photos for sharing online

Photobucket, one of the Web’s most popular hubs for managing personal media, today launched a new breed of photo tagging, giving users the unique ability to share tagged and linked photos across social networks and the web.

Photobucket tagging enables users to tag up to 20 names and links within a single photo, before sharing them online.

When tagged photos are displayed on Photobucket, embedded onto other sites, or shared by email, viewers of those photos can see the tags, click on links, and also find more images with the same tags on Photobucket’s site.

For example, a photo of a school or college group can link each person to individual social network profiles. Alternatively, a photo of landscapes or travel scenes could link to relevant Wikipedia pages or travelogues, giving viewers added insight into the photo’s subject matter.

Pretty neat, huh? Find out more and see a demo at Photobucket.