[Updated] Adding photos, and one more link (the HandyCam).

Its been a while since i posted here, but here we go anyway… Good bit of Sony news today:

• Sony unveils NEX-7: 24.3 MP sensor, OLED viewfinder, $1199 price tag - Biger brother of my NEX3, and now the top of the line (i think) of the NEX models.
• Sony NEX-5N replaces NEX-5, adds 16.1 MP sensor, 25,600 max ISO, OLED viewfinder option  - Upgrade to the NEX-5
• Sony reveals three new NEX E-mount lenses, LA-EA2 A-mount adaptor with translucent mirror - New glass for the NEX system… tempted by the 1.8 50mm…
• Sony Alpha A77 hands-on preview The A77 seems, but i could be wrong here, to be the daddy of cameras announced yesterday… by that i mean its the biggest/baddest one Sony announced yesterday, but that its the daddy overall… I think there is a bigger Sony out there somewhere, but i dont follow Sony cameras that much (other than the fact i have a NEX 3).
• Sony announces entry-level A65, adds yet another DSLR to the Alpha family - Seems to be a few steps up the food chain from the NEX Range, but below the bigger A series cameras… Looks interesting… 1080/60P video, 10FPS, and 24MP… Not bad…
• Sony debuts the Handycam NEX-VG20  Nice new Video camera, with RAW photo support (16MP) and 1080P video. Records audio at either Stereo or 5.1. Wondering if it needs an adapter for that…

So, Lots of Camera news in the last week… lets just get started with it, shall we?

Samsung NX100 mirrorless camera gets official: 14.6MP, i-Function lens, 3-inch AMOLED [Via Engadget]

Canon SX30IS packs a 35x zoom with auto framing for the casual paparazzo [Via Engadget]

Canon G12 arrives, brings HD video with it [Via Engadget]

Samsung NX100 mirrorless camera gets official: 14.6MP, i-Function lens, 3-inch AMOLED [Via Engadget]

Olympus E-5 DSLR gets official: 12.3MP, 720p movie mode, swiveling LCD [Via Engadget]

Hands-Off Comparison: Nikon D7000 And P7000 Vs. Canon 60D And G12 -http://tcrn.ch/azQxIQ [Via TechCrunch]

Nikon D7000 brings 39-point AF, 1080p video, and magnesium alloy construction to $1,200 price point [Via Engadget]

Nikon Coolpix S8100 gets 1080p video, S80 sprouts an OLED touchscreen [Via Engadget]

Nikon Coolpix P7000 brings manual heat to the prosumer level [Via Engadget]

Casio debuts Exilim EX-H20G (with Hybrid GPS) and EX-Z16 point-and-shoots [Via Engadget]

Pentax K-5 brings 16.2MP sensor, ‘much faster’ AF, and enhanced HDR to midrange DSLR party [Via Engadget]

Fujifilm intros FinePix X100: 12.3MP APS-C-based camera with Hybrid Viewfinder, loads of gorgeous [Via Engadget]
Olympus teases Zuiko-equipped compact camera, leaves us desperate for details [Via Engadget]

Samsung NX100 hands-on (video) [Via Engadget]

Leica introduces M9 ‘Titanium,’ limited to just 500 lucious pieces [Via Engadget]

Panasonic’s $900 Lumix GH2 officially debuts: 16MP, 1080p movie mode, 3D interchangeable lens [Via Engadget]

Leaf Aptus-II 12 snaps 80 megapixels of awesome on the back of your pro shooter [Via Engadget]

Sigma SD1 has a 15.3MP sensor, weather-sealed magnesium alloy body, and no video mode at all [Via Engadget]

Leica slaps D-Lux 5 badge on Panasonic LX5, hitches up the price [Via Engadget]

Fujifilm’s FinePix X100 ships March 2011 for $1,000, we go hands-on [Via Engadget]

Leica V-Lux 2 looks like an FZ100, shoots like an FZ100, costs a lot more than an FZ100 [Via Engadget]

Sony reveals ‘color variation concept’ models of NEX-5 and NEX-3 (eyes-on) [Via Engadget]

Sony ‘Advanced Model’ (Alpha A77?) DSLR emerges at Photokina, E-mount firmware coming soon [Via Engadget]

Hasselblad H4D-31 cuts the entry price for medium format excellence to $13k [Via Engadget]

Hasselblad CFV-50 adds 50MP digital sensor to your V-System camera [Via Engadget]

Phew! that should keep you busy for a while!

So, over the next few weeks, I will be working on the reboot of the GeekPhotographer website. The blog will still exist, probably in a different location, and so will the photo galleries, but what they will be hosting and where will be a big change. I have some ideas around the gallery software. Currently I am using SmugMug as my host, I am thinking of building my own service, mainly just for me, as a skills development project. There is nothing wrong with SmugMug. they will still be used while i am building my own site, but as i said, this is a technically exercise, so I want to build this myself. I will post more about that on my more technical blog. The content of this site will also change slightly. Since this site is for geeks who are also photographers, or the other way round, I will be posting more on technical stuff: digital workflow, backup and archiving, sites to help show off your photos, etc. I may post links to camera reviews also. If there is anything in particular you would like to see on the site, please ask! The more ideas, the more content I can create for you. You can send requests to @geekfotog on Twitter, or leave a comment below.

Very impressive video! prooves you dont need a high end camera to take great photos! very cool stuff

Ars Technica has a couple of posts over the last few days about Video shooting and processing. they are very interesting reads, and if you are interested in Video production, you should definalty read them.

Cheap shots: How to shoot pro-quality video on a budget
How to do pro-quality video post-production at home

Over the last while, i have been trying out Lightroom 3.0 beta as my main photography workflow. given i shoot RAW, and given the software is still beta, i use LightRoom’s “Write changes to XMP Side car” option. this way, if anything goes wrong, i still have my originals, and i just need to remove the side cars…

Anyway, BETA 2 has been released, and due to the fact i am actually writing this from my Hospital bed, i wont be playing with it for a few days (check out my Twitter feed if your actually interested). from the AdobeLabs website, here are the new features:

• Improved performance throughout the application for faster importing and loading of images
• Native tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras
• Luminance noise reduction has been added to the previous color noise reduction improvements available in the first public beta for outstanding overall high ISO quality
• Support for importing and managing video files from DSLR cameras for better overall photographic workflow control
• Improvements to the import experience in the first beta to reflect public feedback
• Improved watermarking functionality from the first beta to reflect public feedback

Lightroom 3 beta 2 builds on the enhancements introduced in the first Lightroom 3 beta release:

• Brand new performance architecture, building for the future of growing image libraries
• State-of-the-art noise reduction to help you perfect your high ISO shots
• Watermarking tool that helps you customize and protect your images with ease
• Portable sharable slideshows with audio—designed to give you more flexibility and impact on how you choose to share your images, you can now save and export your slideshows as videos and include audio
• Flexible customizable print package creation so your print package layouts are all your own
• Film grain simulation tool for enhancing your images to look as gritty as you want
• New import handling designed to make importing streamlined and easy
• More flexible online publishing options so you can post your images online to certain online photo sharing sites directly from inside Lightroom 3 beta (may require third-party plug-ins)*

Things i am interested in is the Performance (nothing can be fast enough!), import improvments and the Teathered Shooting… this is a very handy feature. So, if your interested, go check it out. but be warned… BETA = not production. i am a trained profesional and one day i will regret running BETA in production…

I have seen videos of this GigaPan thing online before, and the results that it creates, and i have always wanted one… For those of you who dont know what a GigaPan is, its a holder for your camera which moves around and automatically takes photos… you tell it the top most left point and the bottom most right point, and it figures out how many photos to take and takes them magically… the problem has been that they where originally for small Point and shoot camera, and DSLRs would not fit in… but not any more!

GigaPanner.com are reporting that the GigaPan EPIC Pro will be available in April. this will take a full DSLR, and looking at the photo above, has built in remote shooting support (the first one of these i seen for the Point and shoot devices had a “finger” that pressed the shoot button… the price is $895… which sounds a bit steep, but if you take massive giga-pixel photos, then it would be worth it! [Via Engadget]

Canon has released a new software update for the 5D Mark II. this brings the frimware to 2.0.3 and includes the following features:

1. Adds or changes the following movie frame rates.

NTSC:
* 1920×1080 : 30 fps (changed – actual 29.97 fps)
* 1920×1080 : 24 fps (added – actual 23.976 fps)
* 640×480 : 30 fps (changed – actual 29.97 fps)
PAL:
* 1920×1080 : 25 fps (added – actual 25.0 fps)
* 1920×1080 : 24 fps (added – actual 23.976 fps)
* 640×480 : 25 fps (added – actual 25.0 fps)

2. Adds a function for manually adjusting the sound recording level (64 levels).
3. Adds a histogram display (brightness or RGB) for shooting movies in manual exposure.
4. Adds shutter-priority AE mode (Tv) and aperture-priority AE (Av) mode to the exposure modes for shooting movies.
5. Changes the audio sampling frequency from 44.1 KHz to 48 KHz.
6. Fixes a phenomenon where communication between the camera and the attached lens is sometimes interrupted after manual sensor cleaning. (This phenomenon only affects units with Firmware Version 1.2.4.)

You can download the firmware update from Canon here.

So, just a quick update on my One (galery) a Week challange… If you have been watching my SmugMug site, you will notice the last photos where uploaded on the 7th Feb… I have missed a few weeks, mainly due to lazyness… I hope to get back in the photography saddle, as it where, soon…

I have also gotten a few new photography related books in the last few days. The first is The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) and the second is The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter). I am hoping to review these and post some info about them soon. (those links are UK links, but if your interested, the US links are as follows:
The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers

just to start though, looking at the Lightroom book, its very handy. was messing with Lightroom last night using the book for reference and i have found a lot of extra stuff i did not know… very cool stuff…

DP Review has a, erm, Review of the Canon 1D MK IV. This is one hell-ov-a camera! 16MP, 10FPS to a max of 121 photos (when using UDMA mode 6 CF cards), 3″ Live View screen, etc, etc… It is a beast of a camera, and a beast of a review at 32 pages! Check it out, if you have the time…