Fearless Forecasting

Nikon guru Thom Hogan as issued his 2010 predictions. Although it’s entitled “2010 Nikon Predictions” it pretty much covers the waterfront. Always interesting and provocative, read it here. Note the sidebar about micro 4/3. By the bye, I am off for T Day so no more posts until next weekend. Have a happy holiday.

Workflow Best Practices

On November 11th, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) launched dpBestflow, the initiative funded by the Library of Congress through its National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program. ASMP was awarded funds in August of 2007 for the Digital Photography Best Practices and Workflow (dpBestflow) project. dpBestflow is the result of two years of extensive research that has produced the dpBestflow.org website and two new books, Digital Photography Best Practices and Workflow Handbook: A Guide to Staying Ahead of the Workflow Curve (Anderson/Russotti, Focal Press 2009) and The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers (Krogh, O’Reilly Media, 2009). The project is pretty comprehensive and perhaps a bit much for most of us, but there are some good ideas. You can download a free PDF here to get an idea of what the project is all about.

Going Global

I forget that when I write something here it can be seen around the world. I guess I still think no one is reading this. Today I got a comment from someone in Asia. Since I could not read the characters (I think they were Chinese) I rejected it. Once rejected a comment cannot be accepted. I apologize to this reader, please resend your comment. I am still stunned by the global reach of the Internet.

Some Pet

Just watch here.

Please Don't Pixel Peep!

Samsung NX

While it may seem as though everyone has played their cards when it comes to interchangeable lens compacts, there is still a wildcard in the deck. Samsung first announced the NX this past March and may actually introduce the real thing as early as December. From the pictures that I have seen Samsung has taken the safe route and designed a camera that looks like a DSLR.

From what I have been able to glean from the Internet rumor mills here’s what the NX will look like when it’s finally released.

Mount: Proprietary

Sensor: APS-C CMOS 14.6 mega pixels

Body: Polycarbonate sealed against dust and moisture

Image stabilization: Optical Image Stabilization system (OIS)

Image Formats: JPEG, DNG, JPEG-DNG

Video: Full HD 1080p/30fps

Audio: Built-in real stereo

Focus system: Contrast Autofocus with 16 AF areas, face detection and tracking mode, manual focus (focus by wire)

Shutter: Mechanical, bulb, 30s-1/6000, 4.5fps

Sensitivity: ISO 100-3200 (50-6400)

Viewfinder: Electronic Viewfinder 1080p/260Hz, 100% coverage, 1X magnification

Display: 3″, 921.000 dots

Flash: Pop-up

Storage media: SD/SDHC

So should you wait or go with Ricoh/Olympus/Panasonic? Here are some of my thoughts.

While I want a DMD, the Samsung doesn’t quite do it for me, at least not at this stage. Another proprietary mount system means a paucity of lenses to begin with. It also means a certain inflexibility unless the system can take adapters. While the specs say that the body is weather sealed, there appears to be a speaker or mic on the top of the body rather than on the side. The camera is very well spec’d and certain features are very appealing including the OIS, EVF, display and HD video capability. That said, any potential buyer would be well advised to wait for the reviews since this is an entirely new system. The same could be said of the new Ricoh system. Finally, how will the NX be priced? At $999 it’s a pretty good deal, but at $1999 not so much.

So, if you’ve got to have that DMD within the next six months, stick with micro four thirds. Either the GF1 or the E-P2 would make a fine traveling companion.

Now Somebody’s Thinking

One of the drawbacks of the Panasonic GF1 is that it is a bit hard to mount on a tripod, especially with a larger lens attached. So, yesterday Panasonic introduced the DMW-TA1 Tripod Adaptor pictured above. And, we never even asked for it. Panasonic is looking more and more like my kind of camera company.