Spring is nearly here and our sister site Seim Effects has just launched some great deals to kick things off. Check out the site for 20-25% any of their effects.
SE has lots of fans all over the world. Their Lightroom Presets and Photoshop actions work great and they have great service to go along with it.
If you’re not wanting to lay out the moolah, you should also check the freebies section of their site with all kinds of zero dollar goodies.
by Gavin & Sondra Seim: We don’t usually write too much about consumer cams, but the new Canon poweshots are pretty cool and we though we’d post a few up. No G11 this time around however.
Most of these are not available till Mar-May of this year. My favorite is the SD 1200 and 780 series. Not pro cams, but for a pocket unit it feels so good in the hand, plus has viewfinder. You can find more details on the PowerShot section of Canon USA. We’ll try to update later with more details.
Pro Photo Show is at the PMA Convention 2009. We’re here on the show floor checking out all the cool gadgets and we’ll post more thru the week. There’s plenty to see, but so far nothing downright revolutionary. You can follow @gavinseim on twitter for lots more updates… Sondra Seim
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