PTLens is a free software that corrects lens pincushion/barrel distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting. PTLens is available as a standalone application or Photoshop plug-in and support most of the latest camera and lens. Here’s a summary of the review from Outback Photo:

“There are some Photoshop plugins on the market that do a nice job to correct some distortions. But there are only very few solutions that are based on camera/lens profiles. One of those solutions is DxO Optics Pro. Unfortunately DxO Optics Pro shows a couple of shortcomings in its current incarnation:

• Not cheap
• Works not with current raw converters
• JPG only (means 8 bit only)
• Limited cameras and lens profiles
• No PS plugin

Here the PTLens solution by Thomas Niemann shines:

• Free
• Works with Camera Raw 2.2 and Capture One 3.5
• is 16 bit capable
• Quite a collection of camera/lens profiles available (huge effort by Thomas Niemann!)”

Website : PTLens Official Website

Website : PTLens Review at Outback Photo

Download : PTLens Plugin download

This is a very good comparison of the portrait shots between Nikon D200 and Canon 20D. The Canon 5D is usin EF 135mm/F2 lens and hte Nikon D200 is using AF 85mm/F1.4 lens. Both uses different focal length in order to get similar photos from both cameras. Both of these lens are highly popular lens for portraits for each camera. Standard settings on both camera are used, which does represent some slight differences in camera default sharpness, saturation, etc. From most of the photos from the website, looks like 5D is obviously better than D200 in terms of ssharpness, clarity, ISO noise.[newline][thumb:596:l:l=g][thumb:595:I:l=g][newline]
Website : Nikon D200 Review, compared with Canon 5D (in Chinese)

Seagate the supplier of consumer electronics hard drives, announced that the Seagate 8GB CompactFlash Photo Hard Drive has been awarded Professional Photographer Magazine “Hot1 Award” in the digital storage media category. The awards are presented by the magazine annually to products judged to be of the highest quality and most innovative in their category. “This is quite an honor for a product that is a new entry into a competitive market,” said Jim Druckrey senior vice president for Seagate Technology. “Our Photo Hard Drive storage card is ideal for the needs of professional photographers, providing them with a cost-effective, simple way to store and manage the digital content”.

The Seagate 8GB CompactFlash Photo Hard Drive storage card offers unmatched capacities at cost-effective prices for photography enthusiasts. The highest available capacities make this drive ideal for high-resolution, digital cameras with CompactFlash Type II media slots. Photographers can shoot large volumes of high-resolution pictures without changing the card. It offers unparalleled capacities, delivering 1800+ very high resolution (11 megapixel) or 2300+ high-resolution pictures (8 megapixel) on one 8GB card.

The Professional Photographer Hot1 Awards is a must-have list of the year’s hottest, most sought-after new products. Selected by a panel of professional photographers, the award winning products are chosen for their innovation, overall quality and value for price. Now in its seventh year, the Professional Photographer Hot1 Awards are one of the largest product competitions in the photography industry, with 60 product categories from hundreds of different companies.

Canon has announced the new firmware version 1.0.2 for Canon EOS 1D Mark II N which will fix file-numbering error that occurred during Bulb shooting, improving the brightness of the LCD monitor, and fixing mistakes in the Russian-language MENU displays.

Website : Download Canon EOS-1D Mark II N firmware version 1.02

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This firmware update incorporates the following improvements:

1. Fixes the phenomenon of large image files (1.7GB) being created.
2. Improves the brightness of the LCD monitor.
3. Fixes an operational abnormality in the AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) shooting.
4. Fixes the mistakes in the Swedish-language MENU displays.

This firmware update applies to cameras with firmware versions 1.0.1 installed. By installing this update, the phenomena will be fixed, and the affected cameras can be used without these problems. If your camera’s firmware is already version 1.0.3, it is not necessary to perform this update.

Following the follow simple steps for the update :

1. Formatted CF card in 5D (not computer)
2. Put card in computer
3. Downloaded file (link above)
4. Unzipped it
5. Copying *.fir to root of card
6. Removed lens from 5D
7. Used battery pack (with two newly charged, fresh batteries)
8. Inserted card in 5D
9. Put 5D in P mode
10. Turned 5D on
11. Used Menu to find Firmware
12. Followed screens to upgrade
13. About 3 - 4 minutes it was done.

Download : Canon 5D firmware update version 1.0.3

Here’s another comparison testing the image quality from the two hottest cameras in the market : Nikon D200 (1.5x) and Canon EOS 5D (Full Frame).

[newline] Website : DCamera from Japan (in Japanese)

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When you begin viewing the world through a camera lens, your senses sharpen as your mind and eyes are forced to focus on people and things never before noticed or thought about. I discovered that even if I didn’t always take a picture, the simple act of carrying a camera and searching for something to photography gratly sharpened my powers of observation and allowed me to experience much more of life.

- Kent Reno

Do you want to Contribute your photo to the PhotoBlog? Submit your photo here

Nikon has recently announced the latest version of their image capture software which is now available for download. The Nikon Capture version 4.4.0 (windows) and 4.4.1 (Mac) updates add support for D200 RAW images and the color mode item in the advanced RAW tool palette.

RELEASE NOTES

Nikon Capture version 4.4.0 (Windows)

If Nikon Capture version 4.4.0 is to be used in combination with Nikon View, please be sure that you are using Nikon View version 6.2.7 for full compatibility of files and most functions.
Improvements:

• Support for D200 RAW images has been added.
• A B&W (black-and-white) option has been added to the Color Mode item in the Advanced RAW tool palette.
• Improvements to the method used to reproduce tones in highlight areas, preventing a loss of detail when Exp Comp is set to a negative value. (Does not apply to RAW images captured with the D1 or COOLPIX-series cameras.)

Images edited using the Exp Comp with a negative value with Nikon Capture 4 version 4.3.2 and earlier are opened in Nikon Capture 4 Ver. 4.4.0 or later, the results of highlights may differ.
Nikon Capture version 4.4.1 (Mac)
An issue that caused a Type 3 error to occur and Nikon Capture 4 to unexpectedly quit when attempting to print from Nikon Capture 4.4.0 has been addressed. (Mac OS 9 only).

Download Nikon Capture Software Version 4.4.0 (Windows) & 4.4.1 (Mac)