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Adobe just released the 4th version of their Lightroom which now supports Nikon D4, D800, D800E and has added many lenses support as well, like for the new Nikon 85mm 4/1.8G, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, Tokina 100mm f/2.8 Macro, etc. You can order it in three different versions: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Upgrade from Photoshop Lightroom 3 Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Student and Teacher Edition See the Lightroom 4 detailed specifications below: The Photoshop Lightroom 4 Software For Mac And Windows (For Sale On Web) from Adobe is a complete photo management and editing suite for Mac OS X and Windows. Ideal for enthusiasts and professionals alike, Lightroom takes a nondestructive approach to photo editing, leaving the original files unmolested. All your adjustments and edits are stored in a database and applied to an image on the fly, so that you'll always be able to go back to the original image. This enables you to execute as many post-processing adjustments on a photo as you'd like, without making permanent changes to the original image. Lightroom also serves as a powerful organizational tool for your photographs. Organize photos to suit your needs via an intuitive folder-based data structure. Lightroom lets you store images on multiple storage devices, and it stores low-resolution previews of each image in its central database, allowing you to browse photos even when the original files are offline. You'll be able to search your images based on any number of criteria, accelerating the process of locating a specific image. Lightroom's interface is divided into five major components: Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print, and Web. Each screen serves its own purpose, and you can go back and forth between them easily. There is some overlap in functionality, but for the most part, the components are compartmentalized. The Library screen is where you organize and browse your photos. Enjoy full access to all folders in your library from this screen, allowing you to reorganize as needed. Apply keywords, ratings, color labels, and metadata additions to images. You can make custom searches to create "Collections" based on any of these criteria. The "Smart Collections" function updates on the fly as additional images meet your criteria. For example, you can have an up-to-date collection of all images that you've given a 5-star rating. There is also a "Quick Develop" panel allowing you to make minor adjustments to an image, without having to venture into the Develop screen. The Library also serves as the gateway to import and export images. Clicking "Import" brings up a redesigned screen: The Import window now expands to fill your entire display. Browse through your hard drive or a memory card to find images for import. You can leave the images in their original location, copy or move to a different folder, or copy and convert them to Adobe's DNG format. Apply Develop settings, add metadata, and add keywords during import, such as one for the camera used to capture the photos. Rename files and save a second copy to a backup drive during import. When you've finished editing, use the Library screen to export your photos with ease. You can use the "Export" function, which brings up a window with numerous settings -- including image size, sharpening, file format, and the like -- that you can customize. There is a new "Publish Services" section, enabling you to send images to your hard drive or Flickr with ease. Create as many presets for Publish Services as you'd like, giving you one-click access to frequently used export operations. This section can be further expanded via third-party plug-ins, available from Adobe's Lightroom Exchange website. The second major component of Lightroom is the Develop screen. This is where you'll do the vast majority of your photo editing and toning. Perform any adjustment imaginable here, including color temperature, exposure, black levels, contrast, sharpness, and brightness, to name just a few. You can make adjustments via sliders or tone curves, discretely modify color channels, and convert images to black and white. Numerous presets are available, allowing you to quickly apply a certain "look" to a photo, and you can create your own presets based on your favorite settings. The Develop screen also features useful History and Snapshot functions. History lets you browse through all of the adjustments you've made to an image, in the order that they were made, so that you can revert back to any stage in the image process. At any time, create a Snapshot of an image, which saves all of the settings you've applied, allowing you to continue to experiment with a photo after you've found a look you like. Remove dust spots and red eye from photos, thanks to Lightroom's spot editing tools. Create image masks to apply graduated filter adjustments to a photo, or use the brush tool to dodge, burn, and make other spot adjustments. You can add vignettes and simulated film grain to images, great for breathing analog life into digital photos. With distortion correction, "defishing" of images captured via fisheye lenses can be done from within the program. Correct for both fisheye and rectilinear distortion, a capability highly useful for those shooting with extreme wide angle lenses. Numerous lens profiles are included with the software, and you can save your own presets for oft-used lenses. Lens corrections can also eliminate the keystone effect that ensues when your camera is not straight-on a subject. Basic crop and rotation tools are also available for quick and easy adjustments. If there is anything that can't be handled by Lightroom, it's easy to export a photo to Photoshop CS4 or CS5 for editing; any changes you make to an image in Photoshop will be automatically reflected in Lightroom. Lightroom's other three screens are all about sharing your images. The Slideshow screen gives you all the tools necessary to create digital slideshows of your images, complete with transitions and music. View these from within Lightroom or export them to a PDF or video file to share. The Print screen allows you to print your images in any way imaginable. Adjustable for many standard paper sizes, it lets you visually lay out photos on them, allowing you to maximize the number of photos on a single page -- thus helping to reduce printing costs. Lightroom can automatically position photos so that space on a page will be used as efficiently as possible. Adjust prints for different paper types and color profiles, and add a signature plate if you wish. The Web screen gives you numerous means of outputting photos to the web. Adobe includes a number of HTML and Flash galleries, allowing you to create a web gallery without any knowledge of programming. These can be customized to suit your needs, and third-party galleries are available via the Adobe Lightroom Exchange website. Top new features in Lightroom 4 include: Highlight and shadow recovery, photo book creation, location-based photo organization, extended video support, white balance brush and additional editing brushes, video publishing, soft proofing, improved online sharing integration, emailing from Lightroom, and importing libraries from other software. Lightroom is sold as multiplatform software, which means it can be installed on either Mac OS X or Windows.

What is Lightroom?

Create Brilliant Images Above all, it's your images that matter. Make them as great as you imagined they could be using the leading-edge image processing tools in Lightroom. From sophisticated exposure and color controls to superior noise reduction and sharpening, Lightroom provides what you need to create stunning photographs State-of-the-Art Editing Tools Create the perfect look for every image, whether you shoot RAW or JPEG. Designed by the makers of Adobe Photoshop software in partnership with top photographers around the world, Lightroom includes a comprehensive range of leading-edge image processing tools. Make precise overall adjustments to color and contrast or use a flexible brush that lets you edit in targeted areas of your photo for just the look you want. Dodge and burn, convert to black-and-white, add grain, reduce noise, adjust sharpness, and much more Develop Presets Save your favorite looks and apply them instantly. Handy presets -- many are included, or you can create and save your own -- enable you to apply a series of favorite adjustments in a single click Nondestructive Editing Experiment fearlessly with as many image-editing controls, enhancements, and looks as you like. Lightroom is a nondestructive environment that encourages your creative exploration. Your original images are safely unaltered, and it's easy to reverse your steps or save multiple versions of any photograph Adobe Photoshop CS5 Integration Select multiple photos in Lightroom and automatically open them in Photoshop CS5 to merge them into a panorama, a high dynamic range (HDR) photo, or a creative composite. See your edits immediately back in Lightroom Streamline Your Digital Photography In every way, Lightroom boosts your creativity and saves you time and effort. Built to be fast, intuitive, and a pleasure to use, it's the efficient assistant you need -- one set of powerful tools for your digital photography tasks, whether you're adjusting one image, searching for ten, processing hundreds, or organizing thousands Your Photography Essentials in One Package Quickly achieve the best from your photography with proven, refined software that provides efficient tools for your entire photography workflow. You can edit, manage, and showcase all your images with one integrated solution Intuitive Environment Be productive and efficient, and enjoy the freedom and creativity that comes from working within an intuitive environment perfectly designed for the job. The controls of Lightroom are easy to master and let you breeze through your photography tasks quickly and smoothly Highly Tuned Performance and Design Quickly edit one photograph or work efficiently with libraries of up to hundreds of thousands of images. The already fast performance of Lightroom has been accelerated even further in Lightroom 4. The newly designed import interface is easy to set up and navigate, with clear visual indications of where your photos will be located and how they'll be organized. Save time when processing images by applying the same Develop settings to all photos in a group at once using presets or the sync feature. For example, correct the exposure from an entire shoot or convert all of the images to black-and-white Efficient Image Viewing and Selecting See, evaluate, and select your images quickly and clearly with flexible image viewing features. Instantly magnify one image or compare several. Even hide the background and application interface so that you can focus on what matters most -- your images Image Management Get organized and find images quickly with powerful asset management features. Easily group photos into collections, quickly assign searchable ratings and keywords to one image or hundreds, manage your library across multiple drives, and sort or search for photos using many different criteria The Lightroom Community Trade tips, experience, Develop presets, and more with a thriving worldwide community of Lightroom users and photographers just like you in many venues online and offline Make an Impact You shot your images because they had meaning, whether to you, your client, or your subject. Use Lightroom to communicate that meaning with style and impact. Create customized print packages, dynamic slide show videos with music, and elegant web galleries. And showcase your images online using new, streamlined integration with photo-sharing sites (may require third-party plug-ins) Customized Print Layouts Easily showcase your photos at their best with a top-quality printing engine and customized print layouts that let you print several copies of one or multiple images on a single sheet of paper Easy-to-Share Slide Show Videos with Music Show your images to clients, friends, or family with more style and flair using elegant slide shows with music. Slide shows are a breeze to create, and you can share them easily by exporting them as videos, even in high definition Flexible Online Publishing Post your images to selected online photo-sharing services directly from within the Lightroom Library (may require third-party plug-ins). Showcasing your work and keeping your web images fresh has never been simpler. Support for Flickr, a Yahoo! service, is already built in, and when friends or clients post comments on your Flickr galleries you can immediately see their feedback in the Lightroom 4 Library alongside your images Professionals: Boost Your Bottom Line Lightroom is an invaluable assistant for professional photographers. You're juggling deadlines, processing and delivering proofs, soliciting client feedback, generating finished images, and marketing yourself and your work. Use Lightroom to do it all better and faster More Time for Shooting and Marketing Free up time so you can shoot more and expend more effort on promoting yourself and your photography. Lightroom is a fast, intuitive toolset that handles your whole post-shoot workflow in one application. Import, organize, review, and search your images quickly and easily. Adjust multiple photos from a shoot and generate proofs with efficient, timesaving batch operations. Distribute and showcase your images quickly using new flexible print layouts, streamlined integration with online photo-sharing sites, easy web gallery creation, and more Sophisticated Output Options Take advantage of new opportunities to effectively market your work with the comprehensive output options in Lightroom. Create sophisticated, customized print packages and elegant, easy-to-share slide show videos with music. Easily maintain a fresh, constantly updated web portfolio with flexible online publishing features that let you post images directly to your own web gallery or selected photo-sharing services from within the Lightroom Library (may require third-party plug-ins) Easy Access to Assets to Build Your Brand Never lose a potential sale. The superior image management, keywording, and searching features in Lightroom let you easily find and reuse any shot in your image library. Easily embed your name, logo, or other information in your images with the new watermarking function. You can apply text or graphic watermarks to an image with adjustable size, position, and opacity, so your brand is reflected in your own style

Creativity and Flexibility

Nondestructive Environment Set your creativity free in a nondestructive editing environment that encourages experimentation. Your original images are always safely unaltered, and it's easy to reverse your steps or save multiple versions of any photo Superior Image Processing Get the absolute best from your images with state-of-the-art image processing controls that work with RAW files from more than 290 camera models as well as JPEG, TIFF, and other file formats. Make precise overall adjustments or correct targeted areas. Dodge and burn, convert to black-and-white, add grain, reduce noise, adjust sharpness, create vignettes, and more Selective Editing Brush Extend your creative control with a flexible brush that lets you adjust selected areas of your photo for just the look you want Tracking of Editing Adjustments Make multiple adjustments to an image while retaining complete freedom to undo your mistakes or try something different later. The History panel automatically tracks your changes with easy-to-understand text entries as you edit. Add set points in the panel at any time so you can instantly return to those versions of the photo Before-and-After Comparison Get a clearer sense of the effectiveness of your editing adjustments by viewing an original image side by side with a version of the photo that shows the effects of your edits as you make them

Tone and Color

Advanced Black-and-White Conversion Gain powerful, subtle control over the tonal qualities that make or break black-and-white images. Familiar sliders let you precisely adjust the mixing of information from eight color channels when you convert to grayscale Simplified Tone Curve Tools Make quick, intuitive adjustments to the highlights, midtones, and shadows in your images with sliders or numeric entries. Or click on any region of the photo to directly adjust the part of the curve that corresponds to the tonal value of that region Advanced Hue, Saturation, and Luminance Editing Enhance color saturation and remove color casts with individual control over eight color channels each for hue, saturation, and luminance

Detail and Correction

Superior Noise Reduction Achieve amazing, natural-looking results from your high ISO images with all-new state-of-the-art noise reduction technology. You won't need more than what's built into Lightroom 4 to get the cleanest images at any ISO Intelligent Sharpening Make sharp, natural-looking images, regardless of whether they're intended for prints, slide shows, or your online web galleries. Intelligent sharpening lets you enhance detail without introducing harmful artifacts, and you can tailor your sharpening for different end uses Red-Eye Removal Instantly fix red eye in flash photos Film Grain Simulation Use new sliders to easily control the amount, size, and roughness of grain that you can add to your images to simulate the look of film Lens Correction Quickly and easily perfect your images by automatically reducing lens defects like geometric distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting with single-click profiles. Even images from the best lenses will be improved Perspective Correction Get more natural-looking results by applying powerful, nondestructive perspective correction to your images. Reduce or eliminate the distortion that can occur, for example, when you take a photograph with the camera pointed upward, causing buildings to appear to be leaning backward in your image Dust-Busting Easily remove distracting spots and specks in your images with a single click

Saving Time and Working Efficiently

One Toolset for Your Photography Tasks Get your digital photography essentials in one package that includes what you need to manage, perfect, and showcase all your images Support for Video Files Simplify your imaging work by managing video and still images in the same efficient application. New support for video files from most digital SLR cameras lets you easily manage both still photos and video in the Lightroom 4 Library One-Click Adjustments for Multiple Images Save time when processing images by applying the same Develop settings to all the photographs in a group at once using presets or the sync feature. For example, correct the exposure from an entire shoot or convert all of the images to black-and-white Tight Photoshop Integration Select one or multiple photos and then automatically open them in Adobe Photoshop software to perform detailed, pixel-level editing or to merge multiple photos into a panorama, a high dynamic range photo, or a creative composite. After making your edits in Photoshop, see the results immediately back in Lightroom Fast Performance Across Platforms Speed up day-to-day imaging tasks and process your images faster by taking advantage of cross-platform 64-bit support. Use the advanced memory handling capabilities of the latest Mac OS and Windows operating systems Image Versions Let Lightroom track the changes you make to an image in the History panel, with as many remembered set points as you choose. Then switch between versions of the photo with a mouse click Image Watermarking Easily embed your identity or your brand and logo in your images with more options for customizing their look. The new watermarking tool lets you apply text or graphic watermarks to a photo with adjustable size, position, and opacity Intuitive Environment Be more productive and efficient, and enjoy the freedom and creativity that comes from working with world-class tools perfectly designed for the job. The intuitive environment and controls of Lightroom are easy to master and let you quickly and smoothly accomplish your photography tasks Accelerated Performance Get your digital photography tasks done fast and have more time to shoot and promote your work. Already quick performance has been dramatically accelerated in Lightroom 4, saving you time from first look to final image Tethered Shooting Instantly import and view images as you shoot them with tethered capture, available for select cameras. Use it to make an immediate, highly detailed check of your shot, the lighting, or the shooting setup. Or get instant feedback from clients or subjects Develop Presets Save time by instantly applying favorite looks to images. When you've perfected a look that you particularly like for an image -- a high-contrast black-and-white effect or a supersaturated color look, for example -- you simply save the settings as a preset and apply it to your other photographs at any time. Many presets are included with Lightroom, and thousands more are available from the thriving worldwide community of Lightroom photographers and experts Support for DSLR Video Files Take advantage of new support for video files from most digital SLR cameras, which allows you to easily manage and organize both still photographs and video files side by side Multiple Monitor Support Gain even more speed and efficiency by using a second monitor to enlarge your workspace Tools to Manage and Refine Many Images at Once Automatically import, rename, group, and even process any number of images from cameras or camera memory cards as they're connected to your computer

Organizing and Managing

Extensive Image Management Tools Take advantage of a powerful set of image management features to organize your photographs, flexibly rate and label them, and find them easily using a wide range of metadata tags and information Multiple Viewing Options See and evaluate your images quickly and clearly using the Grid view to browse large groups of photos, the Compare view to see selected images side by side, and the Loupe view to zoom in on the finest detail. Instantly switch between views with a single click Fast Zooming Check for critical sharpness and see small details by zooming in and out of any area of a photo with simple keyboard commands or a click of the mouse Collections Flexibly group photos according to the criteria or organizing logic that works best for the way you work and the subjects you shoot. It's as easy as selecting the photos and naming the collection. Recall collections with a single click, and easily modify their contents at any time Offline Photo Management Work with the photos in your Lightroom Library even when the actual image files are stored on media such as external hard drives or DVD discs that are not currently connected to your computer DNG Conversion Ensure the broadest compatibility and archival security of your proprietary RAW format image files by converting them to the universal DNG format. Convert files already in the Library at any time, or convert new images on import

Finding, Searching, and Sorting Images

File Renaming Make your images easier to find and sort by creating a more logical and useful naming system than the default filenames provided by your camera. Then rename your photos individually, in batches, or automatically as they're imported from your camera, memory cards, or computer folders Simple, Customized Keywording Track your photos with the keywords that make sense to you -- just type and apply Manual Photo Sorting Freely sort your photos in whatever order you prefer by selecting any number of images in the Library -- contiguous or not -- and then dragging them to a new location in the grid. It's that simple Single or Group Metadata Stamping Add as much information to a photo as you like, either individually or to groups of selected images. Store metadata sets as presets and apply them to one photo or to hundreds with a single click Advanced Search and Sort Use a wide range of searching, sorting, and powerful metadata filtering criteria to quickly find just the photo you want, whether your library contains hundreds of images or tens of thousands IPTC / EXIF / XMP Metadata Support Make your photos easier to identify, track, find, and analyze. Lightroom accesses, preserves, and allows you to edit a comprehensive set of metadata entries, including standard IPTC, EXIF, and XMP data Import or Export of Keywords Sets Create a system for tracking and categorizing your images with keywords and then easily synchronize that system between different computers. Export your keyword sets to external files, and import new sets whenever needed. It's easy to transfer them from one computer or user to another

Importing and Exporting

Easy Image Importing Save time with fast image importing. The newly designed import interface is easy to set up and navigate, with clear visual indications of where your photos will be located and how they'll be organized after you've imported them Metadata Stamp on Import Efficiently combine image management tasks by applying custom metadata or metadata presets to images as you import them Timesaving Presets for Import or Export Easily save frequently used settings such as metadata, keywords, naming rules, and more. Apply your presets anytime, including on import, and create custom export presets Metadata Stamp on Output Add metadata stamps with your copyright, instructions for contacting you, or other information to every photo you print or send out

Printing

More Flexible Print Layout Showcase your work in more creative formats using highly customizable print layouts, which you can save as reusable templates. With the new custom print layout creation tool, you just drag one image or several shots onto a page and resize or reposition them as you like

Sharing

Flickr Integration Use Lightroom almost seamlessly with Flickr, a Yahoo! service. Upload your images directly to Flickr from within the Lightroom 3 Library. When friends or clients post comments and ratings on your Flickr galleries, you can immediately see their feedback in the Lightroom 3 Library alongside your images One-Click Publishing to Your Website Export your HTML or Adobe Flash Player compatible web galleries directly to the web in a single click. Just save your web server information as an FTP preset, and there's no need for a separate application Easy-to-Share Slide Show Videos with Music Show your images to clients, friends, or family with more style and flair using elegant slide shows with music. Slide shows are a breeze to create, and you can share them easily by exporting them as videos, even in high definition Output Web Galleries to HTML or Flash Easily present your photos in an HTML or Adobe Flash Player compatible web gallery, which you can preview before publishing. Save time by uploading your gallery directly from Lightroom 4 and by using gallery templates -- a selection of elegant templates is already built into Lightroom, and you can create and save your own

What's New For Lightroom 4?

I decided to summarize the results from the comparison table at the top of the page, so it’s easier to see the differences. The superior feature is highlighted in green. You can see the full specification comparison below the summary table. Have a look and tell me which features you think are more important for you?

Canon EOS 5D Mark III Nikon D800 MSRPUS: $3499, UK: £2999, EU: €3299US: $2999.95, UK: £2399.99, EU: €2829Max resolution5760 x 38407360 x 4912Image formatFull frame (equal to 35mm) • FX (Full frame) • FX -1:2 format (30 x 20) • FX – 5:4 format (30 x 24) • DX (1.5x crop mode)Image ratio W:H3:25:4, 3:2Effective pixels22.3 megapixels36.3 megapixelsSensor photo detectors23.4 megapixels36.8 megapixelsISO100-25600 (in 1/3-stop or 1 increments) Expandable to ISO 50 – 102400.100 – 6400 (in 1, 1/2 or 1/3 increments) Expandable to 50 – 25600White balance presets612Custom white balanceYes (1)Yes (5)JPEG quality levelsFine, NormalFine, Normal, BasicAutofocus assist lampby optional dedicated SpeedliteYesAutofocus System61-point high-density reticular AF (up to 41 cross-type points)Advanced Multi-CAM 3500FX with 51-points (up to 15 cross-type points)AF DetectionUp to f/5.6Up to f/8 (up to 9 cross-type sensors)Detection Range+1 to +20 (at 73°F / 23°C with 50mm f/1.4 lens at ISO 100)-1 to +19 EV (ISO 100, 68°F/20°C)Autofocus Sensitivity-2 to +18 (at 73°F/23°C and ISO 100)-2 to +19 EV (ISO 100, 20°C/68°F)Screen Resolution (dots)1,040,000921,000Built-in flashNoYes (pop-up)Continuous driveYes (6 fps)4 FPS, 6 FPS in DX mode with MB-D12 battery gripSelf-timerYes (2 or 10 sec)Yes (2 to 20 sec, 1 to 9 exposures at intervals of 0.5, 1, 2 or 3 sec)AE Bracketing±3 (2, 3, 5, 7 frames at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV steps)2 to 9 frames in steps of 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 or 1 EVWB BracketingYes (3 frames in either blue/amber or magenta/green axis)Yes (2 to 9 frames in steps of 1, 2 or 3)HDMI uncompressed outNoYesUSBUSB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec)USB 3.0 (5 GBit/sec)Shutter Durability150,000 cycles200,000 cyclesWeight (inc. batteries)950 g (2.09 lb / 33.51 oz)900 g (1.98 lb / 31.75 oz)

Results: Canon 5D Mark III: 4 points Nikon D800: 21 points And the full specification comparison:

 Canon EOS 5D Mark III specificationsNikon D800 specificationsPriceMSRPUS: $3499, UK: £2999, EU: €3299US: $2999.95, UK: £2399.99, EU: €2829Body typeBody typeMid-size SLRMid-size SLRBody materialMagnesium alloyMagnesium alloySensorMax resolution5760 x 38407360 x 4912Image formatFull frame (equal to 35mm)• FX (Full frame) • FX -1:2 format (30 x 20) • FX – 5:4 format (30 x 24) • DX (1.5x crop mode)All resolutionsLarge: Approx. 22.10 mpx (5760 x 3840) Medium: Approx. 9.80 mpx (3840 x 2560) S1 (Small 1): Approx. 5.50 mpx (2880 x 1920) S2 (Small 2): Approx. 2.50 mpx (1920 x 1280) S3 (Small 3): Approx. 350,000 Pixels (720 x 480) RAW: Approx. 22.10 mpx (5760 x 3840) M-RAW: Approx. 10.50 mpx (3960 x 2640) S-RAW: Approx. 5.50 mpx (2880 x 1920)FX-format: (L) 7,360 x 4,912 (M) 5,520 x 3,680 (S) 3,680 x 2,456 1:2 format (30 x 20): (L) 6,144 x 4,080 (M) 4,608 x 3,056 (S) 3,072 x 2,040 5:4 format (30 x 24): (L) 6,144 x 4,912 (M) 4,608 x 3,680 (S) 3,072 x 2,456 DX-format: (L) 4,800 x 3,200 (M) 3,600 x 2,400 (S) 2,400 x 1,600Image ratio w:h3:25:4, 3:2Effective pixels22.3 megapixels36.3 megapixelsSensor photo detectors23.4 megapixels36.8 megapixelsSensor sizeFull frame (36 x 24 mm)Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm)Sensor typeCMOSCMOSDust-reduction system Self Cleaning Sensor UnitImage sensor cleaningProcessorDigic 5+Expeed 3Color spacesRGB,Adobe RGBsRGB, Adobe RGBColor filter arrayRGB Color Filter ArrayPrimary Color FilterImageISO100-25600 (in 1/3-stop or 1 increments) Expandable to ISO 50 – 102400.100 – 6400 (in 1, 1/2 or 1/3 increments) Expandable to 50 – 25600White balance presets612Custom white balanceYes (1)Yes (5)Image stabilizationNoNoUncompressed formatRAW.NEF (RAW)JPEG quality levelsFine, NormalFine, Normal, BasicFile format • JPEG (Exif 2.3 [Exif Print] compliant) • Design rule for Camera File system (2.0) • RAW: RAW, sRAW1, sRAW2 (14bit) • Digital Print Order Format [DPOF] Version 1.1 compliant • NEF (RAW): 12 or 14 bit, lossless compressed, compressed or uncompressed • TIFF (RGB) • JPEGPicture Control • Auto • Standard • Portrait • Landscape • Neutral • Faithful • Monochrome • User Defined • Landscape • Monochrome • Neutral • Portrait • Standard • User-customizable Settings • VividOptics & FocusAutofocus • Contrast Detect (sensor) • Phase Detect • Multi-area • Selective single-point • Single • Continuous • Face Detection • Live View • Phase Detect • Multi-area • Selective single-point • Tracking • Single • Continuous • Face Detection • Live ViewAutofocus assist lampby optional dedicated SpeedliteYesDigital zoomNoNoManual focusYesYesAutofocus System61-point high-density reticular AF (up to 41 cross-type points)Advanced Multi-CAM 3500FX with 51-points (up to 15 cross-type points)AF DetectionUp to f/5.6Up to f/8 (up to 9 cross-type sensors)Detection Range+1 to +20 (at 73°F / 23°C with 50mm f/1.4 lens at ISO 100)-1 to +19 EV (ISO 100, 68°F/20°C)Autofocus Sensitivity-2 to +18 (at 73°F/23°C and ISO 100)-2 to +19 EV (ISO 100, 20°C/68°F)Lens mountCanon EF mountNikon F mountFocal length multiplier1×1×Screen / viewfinderArticulated LCDFixedFixedScreen size3.2″3.2″Screen Resolution (dots)1,040,000921,000Touch screenNoNoScreen typeClear View II TFT LCDTFT Color LCD with 170 degrees wide-viewing angleLive viewYesYesViewfinder typeOptical (pentaprism)Optical (pentaprism)Viewfinder coverage100 %100 %Viewfinder magnification0.71×0.7×Photography featuresMinimum shutter speed30 sec30 secMaximum shutter speed1/8000 sec1/8000 secExposure modes • Auto+ • Program AE • Shutter priority AE • Aperture priority AE • Manual (Stills and Movie) • Custom (x3) • Programmed auto with flexible program (P) • Shutter-priority (S) • Aperture priority (A) • Manual (M)Exposure Metering SensoriFCL metering with 63 zone dual-layer sensor91,000-pixel RGB sensor 3D Color Matrix Metering IIIBuilt-in flashNoYes (pop-up)Flash rangeNo12 m (at ISO 100)Flash modesNoAuto, On, Off, Red-eye, Slow sync, Rear curtain, High-speed syncFlash X sync speedNo1/250 secDrive modes • Single • High-speed continuous • Low-speed continuous • Silent • Single Shooting and • Self-timer • S (single frame) • CL (continuous low speed) • CH (continuous high speed) • Q (quiet shutter-release) • MUP (mirror up) • Self-timerExternal flashYes (Hot-shoe, Wireless plus Sync connector)Yes (Hot-shoe, Wireless plus sync connector)Continuous driveYes (6 fps)4 FPS, 6 FPS in DX mode with MB-D12 battery gripSelf-timerYes (2 or 10 sec)Yes (2 to 20 sec, 1 to 9 exposures at intervals of 0.5, 1, 2 or 3 sec)Metering modes • Multi • Center-weighted • Spot • Partial• Multi • Center-weighted • Average • SpotExposure compensation±5 EV (at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV steps)±5 EV (at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV, 1 EV steps)AE Bracketing±3 (2, 3, 5, 7 frames at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV steps)2 to 9 frames in steps of 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 or 1 EVWB BracketingYes (3 frames in either blue/amber or magenta/green axis)Yes (2 to 9 frames in steps of 1, 2 or 3)Videography featuresFormatAVI, H.264 & MPEG-4 in MOV FormatH.264 & MPEG-4 in MOV Format Uncompressed MicrophoneBuilt-in Mono, External stereo microphone (optional)Built-in Mono, External stereo microphone (optional)SpeakerMonoMonoResolutions1920 x 1080 (29.97, 25, 23.976 fps fps), 1280 x 720 (59.94, 50 fps), 640 x 480 (25, 30 fps)1920 x 1080 (30, 25, 24 fps), 1280 x 720 (60, 50, 30, 25 fps), 640 x 424 (24 fps)HDMI uncompressed outNoYesMovie Max recording time 29 minutes 59 seconds 29 minutes 59 secondsStorageStorage typesCompact Flash Type I (UDMA compatible), SD/SDHC/SDXCCompact Flash (Type I), SD/SDHC/SDXC UHS-I compliantStorage includedNoneNoneConnectivityUSBUSB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec)USB 3.0 (5 GBit/sec)HDMIYes (HDMI mini)Yes (Mini Type C)WirelessOptionalNoneWi-Fi FunctionalityEye-Fi Compatible, WFT-E7Eye-Fi Compatible, WT-4ARemote controlYes (Remote control with N3 type contact, Wireless Controller LC-5, Remote Controller RC-6)Yes (Optional, wired or wireless )PhysicalEnvironmentally sealedYesYes (Water and dust resistant)Shutter Durability150,000 cycles200,000 cyclesBatteryBattery PackBattery PackBattery descriptionLithium-Ion LP-E6 rechargeable batteryLithium-Ion EN-EL15 rechargeable batteryBattery Life (CIPA) Viewfinder Shooting: At 73°F/ 23°C Approx. 950 At 32°F/ 0°C Approx. 850 Live View shooting: At 73°F/23°C Approx. 200 At 32°FF/ 0°C Approx. 180900 Battery Life (shots per charge)(CIPA)Weight (inc. batteries)950 g (2.09 lb / 33.51 oz)900 g (1.98 lb / 31.75 oz)Dimensions152 x 116.4 x 76.4 mm (6.0 x 4.6 x 3.0″)144.78 x 121.92 x 81.28 mm (5.75 x 4.84 x 3.23″)Other featuresOrientation sensorYesYesTimelapse recordingYes (by cable and PC)YesGPSOptionalOptionalGPS notesWith optional GP-E2 unitGP-1

On February 7, 2012, Nikon announced their new camera D800, which has the remarkable 36.4MPx Full frame (FX) sensor.

I will start with "I really wanted to hate this camera" cliche and I will describe the reasons for that below. At the moment of the announcement I actually "forgot" everything bad and I really think that Nikon did a great job with this camera. I'm looking forward to have one of those "miracles" in my hands as soon as they are available on the market. I already pre-order mine. Meanwhile you should hurry up and if you still didn't pre-order yours - DO IT RIGHT NOW!!! Soon there will be a huge demand for this camera and if you don't want to wait endlessly to see it in stock - better pre-order it now. You can do that at Amazon - for D800 here and D800E here. Official specifications can be found here. And here are some pictures from different angles.

As I said above, I wanted to hate this camera, well, Ok - to "dislike" it. Why? Well, as many other photographers I waited for replacement of D700. As you may know D700 is amazing camera with 12MPx sensor and it is famous with it's extremely good performance in low light. When the rumors for 36Mp D800 started to look as it will be true, the logical reaction was WHY??? Who really needs that amount of MPx??? The more pixels means they will have smaller size. Smaller size means they will capture less light. Capturing less light means the image contains more noise. At the same time I was asking myself the contra-question: why Nikon would release something worse than what they have so far? The people are waiting 4 years for this replacement camera and Nikon wouldn't screw it for them. I decided to compare the pixel sizes - may be there I'll find the answer of my question. So here what I found: D7000 (16MP) - 4.78µm D4 (16MP) - 7.3µm D3x (24MP) – 5.9µm D3s (12MP) – 8.4µm D700 (12MP) - 8.45µm D800 (36MP) – ? (prediction is for 4.8µm) for reference: Sony A77 (24MP) – 3.89µm Phase One p40+ (40MP) – 5.95µm Canon 7D - 4.3µm Canon 5DMII - 6.4µm Canon 1Dx - 6.95µm Sure the D800 came out and it has pixel size of 4.88µm - just above the D7000. Btw D800's crop mode of 15.4MPx speaks about that itself. I was impatient to see the first full resolution pictures so I can compare the IQ, and I have to admit - I'm impressed. With similar pixel size of the D7000 the image quality in high ISO is significantly better. Compared to D700,  the noise from D800 (when the image is cropped to 12MPx) is somehow cleaner, without artifacts and it's quite pleasant to the eye. For those, shooting black and white - it will be even more welcomed. See some sample images - 100% crops. First one is the original image and the second one is downsampled to 12MPx: ISO800

ISO3200

ISO6400

ISO25600

German videographer Michael König has compiled a breathtaking HD video from footage shot from the International Space Station. The original video clips, that König has processed and set to music, were created from a series of time-lapse stills of the Earth at night and include footage of Aurora Borealis and Australis.

Viewing the original still images on NASA's "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth" website reveals they were shot with a Nikon D3S with 17-35mm f/2.8D and 14-24mm f/2.8G lenses.

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Lytro lets you take pictures like never before. Unlike a conventional camera that captures a single plane of light, the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space. So you can take picture now and set any focus point later.

Form follows function: The Lytro’s unique compact design is driven by its 8x optical zoom lens, which features a constant f/2 aperture. The Lytro’s anodized aluminum body is lightweight yet sturdy. At less than eight ounces, the Lytro puts remarkable power in a pocket-sized camera.

Proprietary light field science: The Lytro is the only camera that captures life in living pictures. Its innovative light field sensor captures 11 million light rays of data (or 11 megarays), including the direction of each ray, something conventional cameras don’t do. The light field engine then processes the data into a picture that is displayed in HD quality.

Unparalleled speed: The Lytro’s speed ensures that people never miss a moment. It turns on instantly and has an instant shutter. With no need to auto-focus, the Lytro has no shutter delays.

Low-light sensitivity: By using all of the available light in a scene, the Lytro performs well in lowlight environments without the use of a flash.

Significant storage: The Lytro is available in both 8GB and 16GB models, storing 350 and 750 pictures respectively. In addition, our first camera owners will enjoy free storage for the light field pictures they’ve uploaded to Lytro.com.

Seeing in 3D: Coming soon! Captured as a full light field, all pictures taken with the Lytro are inherently 3D. Special light field algorithms, available in 2012, will be applied to the light field pictures to enable viewing on any 3D display and to enable viewers to shift the perspective of the scene.

What will that be is the question? New Mirorrless camera? New camcorder? New DSLR? New lenses? New printers? Or perhaps Canon and Nikon will join in a new Canikon Corp.??? November 3, 2011 - stay tuned!

Hey folks,

In this article we want to point your attention to one excellent source of information about digital cameras. If you’re in doubt which model to choose, or you want two models or brands compared side by side, this is where you should go. 

 SNAPSORT.COM - Excellent Digital Camera Resource

Here is a brief walk-through the site. The main sections of the site are:

EXPLORE – they have excellent rank list of the digital cameras with the most important pros/cons of each camera, as also the overall score point.

COMPARE – Truly amazing side by side comparison between the most popular digital cameras today

JUST TELL ME – Recommendations which camera to buy according your budget

LEARN – excellent articles about sensor types, lenses, zoom, crop factor, ISO, etc.

TOP DIGITAL CAMERAS – a list of the top cameras by brand. Among with sites like dpreview.com, cameralabs.com or kenrockwell.com snapsort.com gives you full information about the selected model. They start with overview and then go deeper with showing the main competitors, replacement models, best prices and full specifications. Furthermore, their analytics team score the cameras. You also have videos, tutorials and samples from each model.

The only few recommendations we have and we would like to see on snapsort.com: 

The "big" camera images are actually too small. You will still find yourself looking for other sources online if you want to see big detailed picture of the cameras.

The other thing we would like to see is a mobile version of the site. Although it is very user friendly, lite, intuitive and opens fast in modern Android phones, iPhone and Blackberry a dedicated mobile app will make it even better - optimized for the small screens - bigger buttons to tap, etc.

In conclusion we highly recommend snapsort.com

Adobe MAX 2010 - October 23-27, Los Angeles, CA

MAX is a unique opportunity to connect with thousands of designers, developers, and business leaders as we shape the future of digital media together.

Discover how to realize the full potential of your content and applications. Find new opportunities presented by rich experiences across screens. Explore new methods for monetizing content. Learn about innovative technologies that enable designers and developers to work together more effectively. Join and get inspired.

There are many opinions about how much should a web site cost. This is one of the most frequently asked questions in the web design world. And this is not without it's logic, because there isn't just one answer to this question. The reason I'm writing this article is not to give you that dreamed answer, but to summarize the information I found out there. Yeah, I already did that for myself, spending many hours to look for information. Let me share with you, so you don't have to spend time to find the same results. 1) Let me start with the site, named exactly with the name of the question: http://www.howmuchdoesawebsitecost.com 2) http://www.webpagefx.com/How-much-should-web-site-cost.html 3) http://www.imageworksstudio.com/blog/what-does-custom-website-design-cost-ongoing-web-marketing-lead-generation/index.html 4) http://onwired.com/index.php/how-much-will-it-cost/ 5) http://webdesign.about.com/cs/salaries/a/aa022403a.htm 6) http://www.designquote.net/html/dq_estimate_wizard.cfm 7) http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Much-Does-Website-Design-Cost?&id=1920023 Below are some books, that also may help you better understand how much a good website costs: