Gavin Seim: I write a lot about HDR photography here on Pro Photo Show. It’s an often misunderstood animal, that when used correctly is incredibly powerful.
This has been in the works for some time, but it’s finally official. My 3 day HDR workshop will be held in Fall of 2009 in Central WA, we’re going to cover everything from basic HDR landscapes to using HDR for amazing people pictures.
This is a small workshop limited to about 15 participants. Seats are first come first serve. You can learn more over on KungFu Photo.
by Gavin Seim: I’ve given thought what I would say about Leica. I was even told I should not write about this. In the end decided that I would give my honest thoughts on this brand.
Let me first say that I’ve never owned a Leica personally. I’m fairly confident they make a good camera and I confess I have felt the draw of owning a Leica. Their fairly small, high end and retro. I’ve felt that voice that says “If you own me, you’ll be way cooler than you are now”. So while at PMA 09 I decided to stop by and give Leica the chance to convince me why I should pay more for one of their cameras.
I was escorted to the Leica PR guy who was more than a little defensive about the my question, which was essentially this. Why Leica? Why should we photographers spend 6k on a rangefinder body and 4k for a 50mm lens? Understand I don’t mind saving and paying thru the nose for gear that’s worth it. I wanted Leica to show me why theirs was.
This is called Album. While I know there’s loads of portable viewers, this one caught my eye. A $200 unit, with a 7″ screen, available in a few different colors with more to come. It has 4GB built in storage and reads from SD cards as well as a usb connection.
It’s very simply with three main nav buttons, a removable leather cover, and a built in 2.5 hr battery. The images on the 800×600 screen look clear, and I would feel trendy handing this to a client at a wedding consultation for them to browse some images. The leather cover can also be used as a stand to make it sit like a digital frame.
It appears these are currently selling direct from the manufacturer. There’s only a few colors now but they say more to come. Here’s their website.
NOTE: This article is a few years old. Most of the products mentioned here have newer refined versions. They arr all viable options. Look over our review. But also check out the latest offerings from each company and see what they offer.
by Gavin Seim. Updated 04/2010: Even with cameras getting amazing at high ISO, low noise images, there’s still room in our kits for good noise reduction software. It allows us to push the limits and keep our images clean and vivid. Nearly every serious photographer should have a good noise reduction tool in his arsenal. That said I don’t think we need to use NR all the time like we did in the past. A little noise is not always bad, especially the more appealing grain like noise coming from today’s cameras. I keep various NR tools on hand however so if I want to reduce, their ready to go.
Today the showdown has come. I see lots of talk about what’s the best noise reduction software, but mostly it’s all talk. Rather than just talk, I’ve made comparisons. Lots of comparisons. I’ll give you examples with various products, images, cameras and ISO settings, including some HDR. At the end I’ll give my final opinions of each product and let you decide for yourself. Let’s get started.
All tests were made using the Photoshop plugin versions of the products but some are available as standalone apps. Settings varied, but I used mostly default settings and automatic profiles, with occasional tweaks to get the results I felt looked best. This means these images represent the results you would get with a single pass and minimal hassle.
Often I found that one product maybe great on one image, while another product may work better on the next. Tweaking the settings would perhaps improve results a little depending on the image, however I wanted a real feel of the results we’ll get everyday. You can click any image for a large view, but some results are similar so you may want to download the large image bundle linked below.
Tuesday morning I’ll be in Seattle to catch Virgin America to Vegas for the PMA 2009 convention March 3-5.
This will be my first time at PMA, but I hope to come back with many tales of great new gear gadgets and goodies for us photographers and maybe a bit of new knowledge to share. Stay tune to the site for updates.
If you’re headed to PMA, give a shout out. Hopefully I can meet some of you face to face. You can follow me on Twitter so we can stay connected. Post your twitter in the PMA forum thread so I’ll be sure to follow you… Gavin Seim
