PopPhoto Flash

Hands-On Report: Ricoh CX1

By John Owens
Editor-in-Chief

Jeez, does the world really need another point-and-shoot camera? I say emphatically YES! if the camera packs as much picture-taking power as the new Ricoh CX1.

Released in mid-March, this $379 compact doesn’t take the same hard-core, “Hey, this is almost a rangefinder” approach of those cult favorites, 2007’s Ricoh GX100 and last year’s GX200, with their hot-shoe-mounted viewfinders, single-focal-length lenses and slip-on auxiliary glass.

No, the CX1 appears quite mainstream…until you look closely. There’s no viewfinder, but the 920,000-dot 3” LCD matches those on high-end DSLRs. Not only is it high-res, but it also is vivid, and stays that way in sunlight. During a weekend shoot in New York’s Central Park, I had no trouble seeing what I was shooting, or playing back what I had shot. MORE AFTER THE JUMP.

Hands on Review: EZPnP DigiMagic Portable Photo & Video Backup DVD Burner

A simple solution to burning backup DVDs is here. EZPnP’s EZ DigiMagic Portable Photo & Video Backup DVD Burner, comes in several different models and is a lightweight unit that can be run on battery power and AC power. It also comes with it’s own carrying case and USB connector.  An optional car power adapter kit is also available The beauty of this unit is that you can insert your memory card or flash drive into one of the three slots or connect your digital camera or camcorder directly to the unit with a USB cable provided. The unit can also be used as an external burner attached to you computer.  The burning process is quick and efficient allowing you to also verify the disk to be certain it burned properly.  I burned files off of a compact flash card in the same amount of time it took my laptop to burn the same files. 

When using an SD I could not get the unit to recognize the files on the card. I contacted tech support and after some trouble shooting it was determined I needed to do a firmware upgrade. Once done the burner worked perfectly with an SD card.  As someone who is constantly shooting back to back events and looking for an efficient way to back up my files on disk I could see a number of uses for this unit.  The unit I worked with was the DM220-U08.  See the EZ PnP site for more information on their line of products.

Check out the Goods section of the November issue for more on the EZDigiMagic DM220-D08.

—Melissa Macatee
Contributing Blogger

Hands On Review: Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro

There is more to creating a black-and-white image than just desaturating or shooting in black-and-white mode. The best method is to take the photo in color—will have more data to work with while you make the most of all of the different areas from shadows to highlights. There are a number of programs on the market that simplify this process and Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro should be at the top of the list. All of the Nik Software programs operate in a similar fashion and can be used together or separately in your workflow. Silver Efex Pro keeps things simple and user friendly. It works as a plug-in to Adobe’s Photoshop and Apple’s Aperture.

The U Point Technology allows you adjustment control to a specific point in the image as to the area, brightness, contrast and structure with a preview of the change before you commit to it.  Silver Efex Pro offers thirty different preset black-and-white styles and the ability to save your favorite style settings. One of my favorite features shows you exactly where the different tonal ranges fall within the image when using the loupe as seen in the above image the zone as you hover over it shows up in the right hand image as colored dash marks.

Selective coloring is simplified with the brush feature that allows you to apply the black-and-white conversion on a separate layer where you can brush the filter‘s effect on or erase it leaving the color from the background layer. 

Former film photographers will appreciate the 18 different film types available, along with the ability to adjust the amount of grain, tone and sensitivity. You can also select a specific color filter and then adjust for hue and strength to control the finer details.  Silver Efex Pro gives you options for vignetting, toning, and burning the edges. For a die hard black-and-white photographer that does not want to get into complicated controls Silver Efex Pro is a great compromise and gives you a preview of all of your changes before you make your final decision. As with most of the Nik Software programs certain features work differently in Apple’s Aperture than in Adobe’s Photoshop. See Nik Software’s site for more detailed information into the features and how to best use them. This is a plug-in that will get a lot of use from anyone who appreciates the fine nuances of black-and-white photography. Silver Efex Pro is available from Nik Software for $199. 

—Melissa Macatee
Contributing Blogger

Hands on Review: Sharpener Pro 3.0 by Nik software

Nik’s Sharpener Pro 3.0 is designed to give you more control over sharpening your photos during post processing. Sharpener Pro 3.0 works as a plug in for Adobe Photoshop, Apple Aperture and other Photoshop compatible applications. In Photoshop, Sharpener Pro 3.0 will show up in your filters menu as a plug in and in Apple Aperture you access it through the Images menu.  A new window appears with most of the controls on the right side of the screen.  You have to scroll down to access all of the options. 

You can set up to ten presets. Sharpener Pro 3.0 has both a RAW sharpener and an Output sharpener so you have more control over your sharpening. One of Sharpener Pro 3.0’s strengths is being able to specify your output method. If the method you use does not show up you can add it. You can use the creative sharpening menu determining the sharpening for the whole image or use the U Point technology control points to select a section of the photo you would like to sharpen. 

Your sharpening can also be based on various color ranges you select.  All three of the sharpening approaches are based on what the program refers to as Structure (s), Local Contrast (lc) and Focus(f).  Structure controls and enhances along fine lines, edges and texture.  Local Contrast controls the contrast on the fine lines and edges.  Focus applies to areas that are out of focus and either increases or decreases the focus in those areas depending on how you set it.  When working on your photos the main screen allows three views, fit to screen, 100% or 300%. The smaller window works as a loupe.

(More after the jump)
 

Hands On: Pinnacle Studios 12

If you are looking for a program to edit videos or compile still images into a video, Pinnacle Studio 12 has it all. If you have never put your images into a video format this is the perfect program, it allows users to start with the basics and grow into the more advance steps as they become comfortable with the process. 
The basic window you will build your video in has a number of things available. 

Across the top is the main menu, just below that are tabs for the basic steps of building your video, Capture, Edit and Make Movie.  Most of the work is done in the editing window. In the top left are all of the tools you need to go through your options for adding video clips, still shots, transitions, text and titles, montages, menus for DVDs, sound and music. The right hand corner is a window play your video, and preview how it’s coming together.  The bottom part of the screen is the window that you build your video. It is all pretty straight forward, once you understand the basics you can begin to work with the different editing aspects. 

Uploading your digital videos, photos, and audio can be done from a variety of devices including still digital cameras, HDV, DV and AVCHD camcorders. If you work mainly with videos you will find all of the editing tools you need. Since our focus is photography, I’ll focus mainly on the simplicity of editing a video made mostly from still images. The drag and drop capabilities makes placing your photos into the video extremely easy. Images can be rearranged and can have different duration of play times.

There are simple editing options are available like zooming, rotating or even removing red-eye, I suggest editing your images before compiling them into a video to simplify the process. One effect that is easy but can give your video a more professional look is the “pan-and-zoom effect interface.”  The pan-and-zoom can allow your still photos to appear to zoom in or out or pan across to give a smooth video look to a still shot. Transitions to move from one photo to another are available for all styles including a ripple transition that applies the same transition between multiple photos.

Once you have fine tuned your edits and are ready to output your movie Pinnacle Studio Plus version 12 has included new formats for output, you can select from disk, file, tape or web (a specific YouTube format is available).  If you have worked with an earlier version of  Pinnacle Studio you will find a number of new features in addition to the web publishing and new output formats, the audio editing has been improved, a simple to use montage is available along with complete HD workflow.   

Whether you jump right in and look for answers later or take you time and actually follow the manual you will be pleased with the user guide, which covers all of the features completely in a direct and clear manner. With all Pinnacle Studio 12 offers, you can be well on your way to creating quality videos.

—Melissa Macatee
Contributing Blogger

Backup Now5 from NTI

Backing up your files is really easy with NTI’s Backup Now 5 guides you through it step by step with a tool bar on the left of the screen. 

1. Select the files you want to backup
2. Select the destination drive for the backup or where you want to restore date to.
3. Select how often you want to backup or how you want to restore your data. 

The whole process is pretty easy. 

There are many options for each step for example, you can backup hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or later. You can customize the file name for your backup if the default system of naming by date doesn’t suit you. As in most programs there are icons for each step but you can also make the same selections using the menu which guarantees you are selecting the right action. Backup Now5 has reports so you can see what jobs have been done. You can backup to a drive or a CD/DVD.  On my attempts the CD/DVD choice took significantly longer. Backup Now 5 is compatible with BlueRay disk which may be faster.  Backup Now 5 can compare two files to ensure you have a complete backup.  If you are looking for a simple solution to regularly backup your work Backup Now 5 may just fit all of your needs.  See NTI’s website for more information on Backup Now 5. There are different versions depending on your needs prices range from $50 for the Standard edition download to $100 for the Advanced edition download.

—Melissa Macatee
Contributing Blogger

Hands on Review: Alien Skin Image Doctor 2

Alien Skin’s Image Doctor 2, ($200, direct) is an easy-to-use plug-in for making simple corrections to common photographic problems. The program offers five basic operations:

Dust and Scratch Remover
What it does: Removes both small and large objects, as well as scratches in background of images. 
How it worked: Removing large objects from simple backgrounds was easy. With more complex images, I was less successful— the area to be removed became a big mishmash of other things in the photo. 

Blemish Concealer
What it does: Easily removes, moles, acne, stains and simple wrinkles.
How it worked: Don’t expect to erase years from a face, the concealer tends to blur the area of the wrinkle. You can adjust the intensity of the strength of the correction, but too much becomes a problem, so it’s best to stick with simple fixes in smaller areas.

JPEG Repair
What it does: Can minimize digital noise or add grain to give your images a more film-like feel.
How it worked:  I ran some images with digital noise through and didn’t see obvious results.  In general most of the jpeg repairs result from a blurring of the image.  This is a good feature to use with older, damaged photos.

Skin smoother
What it does: Works well to minimize wrinkles or rough skin by adjusting the amount of smoothing. 
How it worked: Use the preview window on an enlarged section to get the best results. 

Smart Fill
What it does: For simple fill situations such as a picture rotated and then cropped with a small area left blank, this option filled in the area perfectly.
How it worked: No need to clone to fill the space, which saved time, this feature would also work with photos that have been damaged.

Image Doctor 2 works with Adobe Photoshop CS2 or later, Elements 4(Macintosh) or later, Elements 5 (Windows) or later, Corel Paint Pro Photo X2, or Adobe Fireworks CS3 (live effects not supported).

—Melissa Macatee
Contributing Blogger

Digital Scrapbooking with Memory Mixer

Lasting Impressions’ new Memory Mixer version 2 ($80, direct) is simple to use and gives you hundreds of ways to display photos and short video clips.

I was a bit skeptical of this program at first glance.  Scrapbooking has become overwhelming in recent years, with all of the embellishments and fancy papers you find at scrapbooking stores. Luckily though, Memory Mixer makes scrapbooking simple again.  You use the photos that are sitting on your hard drive and digitally add special touches to your pages including videos and audio. All of your choices, step-by-step, are very clear.  There are so many options you should be able to make a beautiful scrapbook from what is offered within the program.  But if you are a seasoned scrapbooker, you are just a click away (under the Help menu) from the Memory Mixer website where you can purchase even more “quick mixes, backgrounds and embellishments” for your scrapbook. 

Software Tutorial: Vertus Bling It!

Advanced masking once was the exclusive territory of graphic design and post-production pros, but not anymore. Vertus, the company behind the powerful Fluid Mask program have introduced Bling It!, a “lite” version of their pro-caliber masking software.

With just a couple clicks, you can make your photos for online auctions (and more) look much cooler and flashier.

How easy and intuitive is it? So easy that most people probably won’t need to use the drop down the “Help Menu.” The pop-up quick tips should be all you need to get from blah to “Blinged.” For web-exclusive sharing, online auctions and online scrapbookers, this small program packs a lot of functionality and a simple-to-use interface. And it’s risk-free—download a 15-day free trial here. (The full program is available for $50, direct)

Our one big gripe with Bling It? Both the Paintbrush icon and the mask are red, and when you’ve got a small brush it is really easy to lose the icon.

Click here for a quick and easy tutorial on how to Bling It! We take you through a simple project start to finish. There are other cool effects to play with, so download the trial and experiment away!

If you want to employ the Bling It! effect for print output, you’d be better off with Bling’s big brother, Fluid Mask 3 (for more on Fluid Mask3, check out October’s Software High 5 and look for a full review/test soon on PopPhoto.com).
—Jack Howard
Online Technology Editor

Image-Editing With Picnik: Is The Grass Really Greener?

We scoped out online image-editor Picnik (www.picnik.com) in our June issue (The Goods, June, 2007) and thought it was pretty cool. But now that it’s out of beta, we’re really wowed.

The premium version of Picnik launched earlier this week, and is available as a free trial for a few more days. After that, members must pay an annual subscription fee of $25 to access all of the premium features, but there are plenty of basic free features that everyone can use. Here’s our list of what’s hot and what’s not.

         
Screen Shot of Advanced Exposure Control         

Hot: Picnik works with any web browser on both PCs and Macs and goes full screen so you might even forget you’re on a website. But, because it’s not software that’s installed on one machine, you can access all your photos and the entire history of edits you’ve made even when you’re not at your own computer, and you don’t even have to remember to save your changes. You can tell Picnik to pull photos from any various photo-sharing sites (flickr, picasa, photobucket, etc.), or your hard drive, or even from a web search. When you’re done editing a shot, it’s one click to e-mail it, save it to a website, your computer, or print it.

Screen Shot of Pencil Sketch Effect

( more of what's hot, a list of what's not, and a before and after shot, after the jump)