DigitalPro Shooter Volume 1, Issue 6, February 28th, 2002
Welcome to DPS 1-6. We're very excited to tell you all about DigitalPro 1.2 in this issue. It's been several months of non-stop effort on the part of all of us, and judging by user feedback it's been worth it. We'll also provide you with the Executive Summary of the announcements so far at PMA, including the D100, D60, SB-80DX, ERI, X3, and the hot new DigitalPro CompactFlash Wallet! We've culled through all the many releases and news reports so you don't have to:-)
With the release of DigitalPro1.2, DigitalPro is now the all-around fastest and most accurate way to load, review and file your digital images. 1.2 rounds out the basic DP feature set with some great new capabilities including:
Here is a closer look at the new features and how they can help improve your workflow:
Up until now users have had to choose between a straightforward JPEG-based workflow and the full fidelity of Raw files. Now, with DigitalPro 1.2 they can have both. DigitalPro quickly and accurately displays NEF files from all Nikon D1 family cameras. Using the camera's own settings for Tone and White Balance DP is able to reproduce just what the camera would.
For critical editing and review, this allows the shooter to see what they're capturing, whether using JPEG, TIFF or Raw formats. Using DigitalPro's built-in integration with your choice of Photoshop, Bibble or Nikon Capture, you are one click away from enhancing your image in any of those formats--but in the meantime you'll see precisely what you've captured in the camera.
To increase our display accuracy even further, DigitalPro fully supports custom ICC profiles for your camera's Raw files and for displaying them on your monitor, to ensure that you are getting fully color corrected display of your NEF files.
In addition, you can automatically tag your D1 family images with your Copyright & Credit as they are loaded. And for JPEGs, we can auto-tag them with the appropriate ICC profile depending on your in-camera Colorspace setting.
Web page generation is now built-in to DigitalPro. As quickly as creating any other Submission--just use the Publish command--DigitalPro users can now create full-featured web galleries, including gallery pages, thumbnails, and image previews in user-selectable resolution and layout.
You can add your EXIF shooting data to the pages by customizing the templates and in fact can author your own Web Gallery templates in your choice of HTML editors and integrate them easily with DigitalPro by adding custom tags that tell us how to lay out your pages.
DigitalPro 1.2 is leading the pack in Canon 1D support. We fully support auto-tagging of Canon 1D images--IPTC information for Raw & JPEG files and ICC profiles for JPEG files. We also display a subset of the Canon proprietary EXIF shooting data and can correctly display Canon Raw file thumbnails. In a future release we will be supporting the viewing of full resolution 1D Raw files.
NOTE: Canon has chosen to use a variant of the TIF file format for 1D Raw files. This makes it easy to show thumbnails from Canon Raw files, but can mislead users into thinking applications are correctly handling their Raw files when they are not. Be very careful using software that has not been tested with 1D Raw files to Caption or Rotate 1D Raw files. Make sure and use some test images and then verify that the Canon Photoshop plug-in or other reader can still see all the camera information and the full-resolution image!
By popular request we've upgraded our Publish / Submit interface to its own dialog and added memorized presets for popular submission formats including wire service, editorial, and web submissions. You can create your own memorized submission formats with a couple clicks of the mouse. Just another way we're making DigitalPro the fastest tool for the working pro.
DigitalPro 1.2 features full support for pattern based image renaming, based on shooting date and time, as well as optional new folder creation based on current date and time.
This provides full support for shooters who used time-based filing systems or who rely on shooting dates to help them sift through their images. These options are available both when digitalfilm cards are loaded and when images are filed.
Full access to printer properties, including paper type and custom profiles is now available in 1.2. We've also added more print templates including a borderless print template for use with printers such as the new Epson inkjets.
More custom information is displayed for D1 family users, including the Camera ID field (settable in Nikon Capture).
Ever forget to re-format your flash cards? DigitalPro will now offer to let you re-format your Flash cards if they are empty after they are unloaded. All the usual formatting caveats apply, all we do is bring up the Windows Format dialog the same way you could by hand--but we save you a bunch of time and help you remember.
World's most expensive color meter? Perhaps... Moose and I have long recommended that D1 family users not use the Auto white balance setting--except perhaps when the Sun is directly visible. You may have wondered why. Well, now you can see what color temperature your D1 family camera thinks the lighting is by shooting an image with Auto white balance and then looking at the properties in DigitalPro1.2. Based on the cameras handling of the scene we'll give you the approximate color temperature that the camera assigned to the image. Possibly not an incredibly useful tool, but good for entertainment value while you're waiting for a shoot to start!
As always, you can download a fully functional evaluation version of DigitalPro for Windows for free from the DigitalPro website.
Here is the quick version of the really interesting announcements from PMA
First, the SLRs. D100 and D60. These cameras should finally break the logjam of prosumers stuck between their film SLRs, digital point and shoots, and pro SLRs. Light enough that non-pros are willing to carry them, inexpensive enough that people can talk themselves into buying them, and high enough resolution that everyone can feel good that they didn't miss out on anything.
Despite the compelling resolution specs, these cameras will have similar issues to the D30 when it comes to Pro use. Built on less expensive chassis and without top of the line shooting or AF speed, they're no match for the D1X, D1H and 1D when it comes to the working pro. BUT, if you've been stuck with a film backup these cameras provide good news. First, they will likely prove suitable as a backup for many folks and second they are already helping drop the price of used D1s.
70-200VR: The major breakthrough here is that Nikon has apparently figured out how to add VR to an AF-S lens. But they've picked a tough market niche to do it in. The 80-200 family are some of Nikon's most loved lenses, so this new lens will need to be really good to make a dent. I'm not all that excited about VR in a 70-200 personally, but I am somewhat heartened by the prospect that there may someday be longer VR lenses. In particular I'd like to see a 600VR. Moose doesn't seem to need any help with his 600, but I drink too much coffee to be completely satisfied when using my 600 with a 2x (effective 1800mm) and would rather invest in a new lens than give up caffeine:-)
The SB-80DX is a much needed upgrade to the SB-28DX. First, it finally has a new foot, which alone should save a lot of hair-pulling. Second, Nikon has upgraded the power, added back features like wireless, bundled a diffuser, increased the flash zoom range, and claim to have upgraded the TTL flash capability with digital. I'm anxiously awaiting mine to give you a first hand report on how this all works out, but I think it could be a real winner. The SB-30 is a missed opportunity to have a consumer flash that works with rechargeable batteries. The small size makes perfect sense for CP5000 shooters, who really need to use an external flash and have only had a choice of the larger SB-50DX and much larger SB-28DX, but the choice of a single CR123A battery ensures that it will still leave many battery-challenge travelers frustrated.
This is a really cool announcement. Kodak is essentially stashing a bunch of hints in their JPEG files that let you go back and change the exposure and white balance the way you can with Raw files. This only makes the files 10%-30% larger. While I don't think this is nearly as hard to accomplish as the Kodak press release makes it sound, it is a wonderful user benefit.
Unfortunately, since Kodak is currently keeping this proprietary and it is unlikely that Nikon or Canon would adopt it even if they didn't, the practical impact on most of our readers will be limited. It is a sorely needed shot in the arm for Kodak's pro camera line though!
Of course Canon now has the Raw+JPEG setting, which accomplishes much of the same goal at the cost of a much larger file size. From what we can tell the best current equivalent for Nikon shooters is to shoot Raw and use a fully Raw supporting image filing application like DigitalPro.
Cards, cards, everywhere. The best news here is that prices will continue to drop. JPEG shooters probably don't need the 24x from Lexar, but it will help reduce the prices on 16x cards. NEF shooters will welcome the increase in size and speed. Most importantly, flash cards are now large enough and becoming inexpensive enough that they are a practical alternative to Microdrives for more more shooters. We have nothing against Microdrives, per se, but there is no question they break more easily and require more care and feeding than flash cards.
Creating a true RGB sensor is not only the obvious Holy Grail for digital camera manufacturers but it has been considered all but impossible up until now. But Carver Mead is known for doing things everyone else thought impossible, so he's the person to do it. By using a multiple layer sensor, much like the multiple layers in traditional color film, Foveon's X3 family of sensors records a true tri-stimulus value at each pixel. This value is then processed into RGB (it is not clear that the actual capture is initially RGB, given the way the layered filters need to work) and Foveon claims provides sharper and more true color images.
All other things being equal, this is a no-brainer advantage. But all other things are never quite equal. First, interpolation algorithms have actually gotten pretty good, so the gain is less than it would have been even a few years ago. Second, if the camera has a fixed amount of processing power and memory, the additional horsepower required to image three colors at each pixel is a tradeoff versus higher resolution. Third, if the multiple layers introduce their own color artifacts we'll be trading the devil we do know--low pass filters and color aliasing, for a new set of devils. Fourth, to be commercially important the X3 will need to be part of a competitive camera system. Sigma has promised to use the X3 in their new digital SLR, but without it being in a camera that supports either Nikon or Canon lenses it will be tough to know how good the sensor really is.
Whatever the outcome, the X3 raises the bar for all of the camera manufacturers--which is a good thing for all of us. Obviously we'd love to see true color sensors become a practical reality and are eagerly awaiting the rollout of X3 based products.
WRP, distributors of DigitalPro software and home of Moose Peterson, have introduced the first digital film wallet designed by real shooters. If you're like us you've been frustrated by wallets that are either incredibly bulky and awkward or small and useless. Well, WRP has done something about it and introduced the first digital film wallet that we're proud to have the DigitalPro name on! You can order them directly from WRP.
New on Nikondigital.org: We've also posted Moose's hands-on review of the Coolpix 5000 along with sample images on nikondigital.