Sadly it really is only to support the new D3100. I was hoping for a bit more, but with Nikon and their software well they dance to their own drummer. I still think that it give superior performance, but the Lightroom is so close now and the work flow so much simpler, I find myself using Capture less and less. In fact, I question whether or not I would even pay to upgrade, if and when Nikon goes to NX3.

Here are the highlights.

• Compatibility with Mac OS X version 10.6.4 has been added.
• Support for RAW images captured with the D3100 has been added.
• Information for lenses used with the Auto Distortion correction function under Camera & Lens Corrections in the Develop section of the Edit List has been updated.
• An issue that prevented smooth display of graduations when certain RAW images were opened has been resolved (however this issue may remain in some images)
• An issue that caused certain RAW images to be displayed too brightly with Capture NX 2 Ver. 2.2.0–2.2.4 has been resolved.
• When the Image Dust Off function under Camera & Lens Corrections in the Develop section of the Edit List was applied, block noise was generated in some very rare cases. This issue has been resolved.

The link for the upgrade for Mac is…HERE.

The link for the upgrade for PS is…HERE.

If you son’t already own NX2 and don’t have this version it is worth upgrading. It has always been stable and fast for me. You can buy it from Amazon with the link below.

Nikon Capture NX 2 Full Version

The best part of this news is that Nikon is working on software and I hope that means that Nikon Capture NX2 will soon be Nikon Capture NX3! The other good news is that for Nikon users this is free software and will now edit your videos.

Here are the details and you can download the software…HERE.

ViewNX 2 Primary New Functions

Revamped user interface

Three workspaces

It is easy to switch between the three workspaces—Browser, GeoTag, Edit—with the simple click of a button on the Toolbar.

• Geo Tag workspace
• Browser workspace
• Edit workspace

Four background colors

The color of the workspace background can be selected from white, grey, dark grey and black, depending upon the brightness of images.

Changing palette display, thumbnail list display

As the Browser palette at the left of the ViewNX 2 window and the Edit palette at the right of the window can be displayed separately, working with ViewNX 2 is more efficient. What’s more, as unnecessary palettes can be hidden, the workspace can be maximized. In the Browser and Edit workspaces, the Thumbnail List option can also be selected to display image details with thumbnails.

New image editing functions

(1) Crop

Save only the desired portion of a photo.

(2) Auto Red-Eye

Correct the “red-eye” effect that often occurs in photos of people taken with a flash.

(3) Straighten

Straighten photos taken at an angle.

(4) Auto Lateral Color Aberration

Correct color shift caused by chromatic aberration and reduce lateral chromatic aberration.

Movie editing functions

Trim

Use to specify and extract only the desired portion of a movie file.

Save movie frame as still image

Saves a specified movie frame as a JPEG image with the same pixel count as the original movie frame.

Improved print functions

(1) Printing date/time shot

Print the date images were captured over or below the images.

(2) Background color

Select one of four background color options for printing.

(3) Metadata

Select the shooting information to be printed with images from a detailed set of options.

(4) Header/Footer

Text can be input for use as headers and/or footers with printing

Greater collaboration with my Picturetown

Simple viewing

Images uploaded to my Picturetown can be viewed in the ViewNX 2 Browser window. This allows users to check the images uploaded to my Picturetown without opening a Web browser and entering their login e-mail address and password every time.

Simple upload to my Picturetown from ViewNX 2

Images can be uploaded from ViewNX 2 to my Picturetown using simple drag and drop operations from the folder displayed in the ViewNX 2 Browser window.

Other ViewNX 2 Functions

Files can be converted to a different format and image size can be adjusted

Aspects such as brightness, contrast, highlights and shadows can be adjusted for both JPEG and RAW images

Equipped with a variety of display modes including Thumbnail Grid, Thumbnail List, Image Viewer and Full Screen

Comprehensive RAW image processing with Exposure Comp., White Balance and Picture Control adjustments

Custom Picture Controls can be created and saved. Custom Picture Controls created with a Nikon camera can be imported into ViewNX 2 and exported to compatible cameras. (RAW images only)

Nine color labels and ratings (up to five stars can be specified) enable detailed organization and classification of images

I love NIK software, I doubt there is an image in my portfolio that at least one of their magnificent software packages has not touched. They have just released an update (FREE to registered users) of their crazy good Viveza software. The good news is that Mac (finally) gets 64bit support. If you read what they say they was not a trivial matter and yet, they are not charging for the upgrade. That customer service is a hallmark of this greta company. I highly recommend them!

I am sure the rest of the packages will be rolling out shortly.

Per Nik Software and a link to the free updates is…HERE.

Version 2.003 for Mac includes:

• 64-Bit Compatible
• Fixes additional minor bugs

Viveza 2.003 has been updated for 64-bit compatibility for the Macintosh and Windows operating systems. If you are currently running a workflow that supports 64-bit, such as Adobe Photoshop CS5 and/or Macintosh OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), please download this update.

However, if you are currently using Adobe Photoshop CS2 and/or Macintosh OS 10.4 (Tiger), which do not run natively in 64-bit, the update is currently not compatible in these environments.

Version 2.003 for Windows includes:

• 64-Bit Compatible
• Fixes additional minor bugs

Of course, if you don’t own Viveza, you can buy it from me!

Viveza 2

The release candidate for Adobe Lightroom 3.2 is out today and while I normally wait to post the updates until it the final version, the Facebook export is pretty cool. If you are a Facebook photographer or have one of the new cameras it supports grab it now. Here is what Adobe says about a release candidate, “The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing…”

The details from Adobe:

New Functionality

• Additional direct publish functionality to Facebook, the popular social networking site.

Newly supported camera models include:

• Casio EXILIM EX-FH100 (DNG*)
• Leica S2 (DNG*)
• Panasonic DMC-FZ100
• Panasonic DMC-FZ40 (FZ45)
• Panasonic DMC-LX5
• Pentax 645D
• Samsung NX10
• Samsung TL500 (EX1)
• Sony A290
• Sony A390
• Sony Alpha NEX-3
• Sony Alpha NEX-5

You can get the downloads from Adobe Labs….HERE.

If you still have not bought Adobe Lightroom shame on you and here is a link for the upgrade!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Upgrade

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

A number of bugs have been squashed and rather quickly squashed by Adobe today with this release. I found it cool that the majority of these bugs were fixed based on how many crash reports were generated by users. So next time that window pops asking of its OK to send the crash report…check yes!

• A number of issues that could cause slow performance have been addressed.
• Top crashers found in the field have been addressed.
• 3D refractions, Ray Tracing and IBL workflows have been improved.
• Out of memory error opening some TIFFs has been addressed.
• A crash in Content-Aware Fill has been addressed.
• Font related crashes have been addressed.
• A number of user interface and workspace issues have been fixed.
• A number of painting-related problems have been addressed, including video layer issues.

We also addressed several issues that were result of the major architectural changes on the Mac side in the move to Cocoa/64-bit:

• Right-click correctly selects the layer clicked on in the context menu.
• Right-click to bring up the brush picker displays the picker under the cursor on the correct monitor.
• Slow performance when using the Liquify filter has been fixed.
• An issue where menus become disabled has been fixed.
• Scrolling speed using Apple Mighty and Magic Mouse mouse wheel has been improved.
• Double-clicking the document title bar now correctly minimizes the document.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when generating font previews. Note: We continue working with Apple to address remaining issues related to fonts and font caches.
• Fixed an issue with batch processes on open documents.
• Droplets are now Intel-native to improve compatibility in 64-bit mode and to remove the requirement to run droplets using Rosetta.
• Fixed an issue where a white pixel would show up on screen after invoking certain dialogs.

Windows-specific issues of note:

Fixed an issue running on older AMD processors that prevent Photoshop from launching. (Application failed to initialize properly (0xc000001d))

If the auto updater does not fetch this for you, you can get the Mac update…HERE. And Windows…HERE.

If you have not upgraded your software yet…you should. Remember that Adobe has changed the upgrade rules. You can only upgrade from 3 generations past. So if you are using CS2 this is the last year you can upgrade at the discount price.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Upgrade

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Upgrade [Mac]

Adobe Photoshop Extended CS5 Upgrade

This is a terrific version and offers a ton more features than have been updated in a few years. So if you have an old photoshop or have never bought it, why not now?

Today Adobe released Lightroom 3 from its beta and it is now ready for prime time! Great new features like lens correction and noise reduction. For me the 2 things I like are the speed, Lightroom is really really fast now. I didn’t think it was slow before, but now it is noticeably zippier. The second is the image download section is all new and besides looking great it just easier to use.

The noise reduction is vastly improved, but will it unseat Define as my go to product? Check back next week and we’ll compare the two of them.

Read what Adobe says….HERE.

I am a big fan of Zenfolio and they are the company that I use to host my online portfolio as well as fullfilling my print sales. They are great to work with and they are continually updating and improving their services. One of the reasons that I chose Zenfolio was the speed of their servers. I’ve never seen a photo host site that was faster at browsing your images than Zenfolio. All of that should be a good enough reason to sign-up, but now they’ve upped the ante with an iPhone app, myZenfolio.

Here are the juicy details:

myZenfolio is the perfect mobile companion for your Zenfolio account. It allows you to easily manage and show your photos hosted on Zenfolio, as well as upload new photos directly to your Zenfolio galleries.

Features

• Browse, create, modifgy groups, galleries, and collections
• View your photos online through a native iPhone experience
• Upload photos taken with your iPhone
• Upload original size or low resolution images
• Set Access Control rules (public, private, password)
• Edit titles, captions, categories, and keywords
• Move and delete photos
• Send e-mail invitations

The great news is that is works just as well as the main site! Very fast and very easy! The thing that I like the most, if I want to show someone my work, I don’t have to keep pictures stored on my iPhone, with a couple of taps on my iPhone I can show my images instantly…in a word awesome…and even better its free!

This is a must have win win situation. In other words if you have an iPhone and don’t have a Zenfolio account, go get one. If you have a Zenfolio account and don’t have an iPhone, go buy one!

Download the app for your iPhone…HERE.

HOLY fraking amazingness in Adobe’s coming release of CS5! I saw a video clip the other day about CS5′s content aware fill, but while it was amazing it was done by one of the engineers from Adobe and so I was a tad skeptical. You know I thought it was like one of those gadgets that Billy May or Ronco (if you’re old enough…) sells on TV. Then I saw this video from Photoshop World and while Katrin Eismann is certainly a highly skilled photoshop user and author, she didn’t write the code. This software is going to be a game changer! Good luck Mr. Photo Editor in keeping people from massively re-working images!

You have to watch the whole thing to get to the bikini removal, but its worth is…no perv, not that good!

Adobe has announced that they are going to announce the release of Creative Suite 5 (CS5) on April 12. While I have zero knowledge of when it will ship, I wanted to remind everyone that Adobe has changed their upgrade policy. You now can only upgrade from the last 3 generations. So In order to buy an upgrade you now have to be using CS2 or newer. So you slackers still using CS or older will have to buy a retail version to get in to the 21st century of photoshop and Creative Suite CS5.

Adobe has built a pretty cool webpage with a countdown timer for the launch party…HERE.

I have been really enjoying the beta of LR3 and cannot wait for the real deal. This new beta release makes me think a the final version is very close. Believe it or not this version is faster and has a bunch of kewl new features.

Things I’ve played with in LR3

I have been shooting with high and higher ISO lately and the Luminace Noise Reduction button now works…and it it works really well getting that “stained glass” noise out of a high ISO image.

LR3 now supports importing and managing video! How cool is that? No editing (YET!) and no built in player, but at least you can ingest the videos at the same time as your stills.

Here are the highlights:

• 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
• Support for a bunch of new cameras

Of course Adobe’s Lightroom Journal blog reveal all of the juicy details…HERE.

And you can download the beta and play with it yourself…HERE.

Lightroom on the MAC installs both 32-bit and 64-bit versions and by default activates the 32-bit version. Which is fine. (Under Windows you have to select which version to install, so you guys don’t need to read anymore.)

When I opened the More Info panel for Lightroom it showed that indeed that “Open in 32 bit mode” was not checked. However, the credits screen did not show that Lightroom was running in 64-bit mode! I am sure that you know how to get to the info screen via Finder>Applications>Adobe Lightroom. Here is another screen shot to help.

My solution was to select “Open in 32 Bit Mode” and then open and close Lightroom. Go back and then de-select the 32-bit mode and voila, when Lightroom opened, I’ve got 64-bit!

I have to say it is a gigantic difference, duh! Going from 3GB of RAM to 10 is going to make a difference. I just got the MAC and so when something isn’t right, I assume user error. After my discovery I was very excited and so I called several friends. To my shock it wasn’t me, they were not in 64-bit either and they knew what they were doing. I bet a lot of you are not in 64-bit mode either.

After the switch, Lightroom is now turbo-charged and changes made to images in the develop module are instantaneous. This is what I was expecting with the new MAC…WOW! So check your settings to make sure that you are also in WOW mode!

I LOVE Tripit! I get so frustrated having all of these email confirmations for my frequent travel. You have airlines, hotels and car companies emailing you your confirmation numbers and trip details. What a pain to manually re-write them to one document or to print all of the pages to carry along with you. Now you don’t have to do that, just forward these emails to Tripit and it does the rest automatically! It really is magic. I have sent it restaurant reservations, theater bookings everything and it just puts them in a nice orderly easy to read trip report. You can share your trip with friends and family, you can add the flight plans of others that you are meeting, really you can do a lot!

Now it just got better, with an app for your iPhone. I mean you do have an iPhone right?

Anyway, check out Tripit it s works, it is easy and it is FREE!

About the only time I have time to read a book is when I am on a plane and then it is a must have item. I cannot fly without a book. As something of a gadget guy, I’ve considered the Kindle, but decided it was too much for the amount of reading I am able to get to. Too much as in too much money and too big for me to lug around. Now Amazon has a free Kindle  iPhone app. My first impulse was, I am absolutely not going to read a book on my iPhone, it is just too small. As per usual, I had an epiphany: user manuals, guide books and other reference items would be AWESOME! I love Scott Kelby’s Lightroom book and being able to have it in literally in the palm of my hands could be an incredible convenience. Or a  guide book for an upcoming trip. The iPhone even has something that makes it better than the Kindle…color pictures!

There are 245,000 books in the Amazon store including 396 about photography! Here are some ideas.

Another sort of minor update that gives additional camera support and some bug fixes. You also need to update Camera Raw to 5.3 with this update.

Lightroom 2 Bugs – Fixed

• In the Windows 64-bit version of Lightroom an sFTP upload process could cause Lightroom to crash.
• Slideshows could return to the first image randomly during playback.
• A memory leak could cause Lightroom to crash while attempting to process files with local adjustments.
• Canon EOS 5D Mk II sRAW files could process with artifacts in Lightroom 2.2.
• Lightroom 2.2 could cause disc burning to fail for Windows customers.
• Attempting to undo(CTRL-Z) a single step in Lightroom 2.2 on Windows could cause a series of previous actions to be undone.
• Additional camera support for the Nikon D3X and the Olympus E-30

Windows Update Link

Mac Update Link

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Upgrade

Basically an update for a couple of new cameras and as usual I recommend that you update to the latest version, you never know what little tweaks were done under the hood. You also need this update for the Lightroom 2.3 update.

Support for the following cameras has been added in this update. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.

• Nikon D3X
• Olympus E-30

Windows Update Link

Mac Update Link

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Upgrade

The more that I use Lightroom the more I like what they are doing. Even there are no big features in this release, it is still worth while for the update to ACR 5.2 (Adobe Camera Raw’s latest converter). They also have included the camera profiles that have been available from Adobe Labs for a while now. I still think that Nikon Capture NX2 does the best conversion of my Nikon NEF files, the gap is certainly narrowing.

Here is what Adobe says:

Lightroom 2 Bugs – Fixed

• Images rendered from the Slideshow export process produced a jagged effect on hard edges relative to the quality of normal JPEG export
• Increased the number of characters allowed in Web gallery labels beyond 150 characters
• Catalogs with hundreds of root (top level) folders caused very slow launch times
• Drag and drop to move a subfolder to a different folder showed the incorrect photos in the grid
• Print Sharpening produced edge artifacts in certain conditions
• Density defaulted to 100 percent for initial stroke regardless of position of slider
• The Adjustment brush created blocky, straight edges to brush strokes under certain conditions
• Lightroom could become unresponsive when using the graduated filter under certain conditions
• It was possible to lose the ability to edit an adjustment brush setting after applying a graduated filter with hidden pins
• Turning auto-mask on produced a lag in Lightroom performance in when applying the adjustment brush
• Print to JPEG functionality produced a low resolution image when printing photos with panorama aspect ratios
• Extended characters in a folder name caused Edit in Photoshop functionality to fail
• Smart collection did not respond to changes in custom metadata
• Enabling auto-mask produced a lag in performance in when applying the local adjustment brush

Lightroom 2 Enhancements

• Camera profiles are now available in the Calibration panel in the Develop module. These profiles are designed to provide different interpretations of raw capture.

Windows Download

MAC Download

As always if you have not already done so, you can follow this link and purchase Lightroom at Amazon. Your support is appreciated.

[amtap amazon:aisn=B0018VDJVW]

That sounds like jibber jabber, but it is all true. Mostly a release to add new cameras, but as always I update anyway as you never know what little tweaks have been made along the way.

Here is what Adobe says is new:

Support for the following cameras has been added in this update. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• Canon PowerShot G10
• Panasonic DMC-G1*
• Panasonic DMC-FX150*
• Panasonic DMC-FZ28*
• Panasonic DMC-LX3*
• Leica D-LUX 4*

Here is a link for the windows Download.

And the MAC download too.

If you have yet to buy CS4 and you read this post anyway, you are the best and here is a link to Amazon just for you!.

The public Beta has been out for a while, but this is the official update. Basically it adds camera support, but I always install these official releases as they usually tweak some things under the hood.

From Adobe:

• Additional camera support for the Canon 50D, Canon 1000D (Digital Rebel XS/EOS Kiss F), Nikon D700, Nikon D90, Sony A900, and more
• Several corrections for issues introduced by the Lightroom 2 release

Link to Windows Download Link to MAC Download

And if you have not bought Lightroom 2 yet…why? Go directly to Amazon via this link and buy it!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Upgrade

YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!

You don’t even need to read my post just follow this link and buy it! It is really that good…

Sharpener Pro 3.0 is the most advanced and powerful sharpening solution eliminating the guesswork typically required for achieving superior and consistent results.

New adaptive sharpening algorithms and award-winning U Point® technology for selective sharpening ensure desired sharpness or creative softening of details are easily accomplished. The Sharpening Soft Proof that lets you accurately inspect results before printing saving money in costly test prints, improved handling of new output devices, and new output presets provide repeatable, professional results. Sharpener Pro 3.0 is the only tool that provides controls for both output and creative detail sharpening of different objects quickly and easily without the need to make different adjustment layers for each object or area.

A recognized leader in digital imaging technology, Nik Software has developed class-leading solutions to specific challenges photographers face when sharpening images throughout the photographic workflow and packaged them in one convenient toolset. Use Sharpener Pro 3.0 to regain clarity in digital images, draw the viewer’s attention to the focal point of an image and achieve professional, high quality sharpened images every time.

Read the rest of what they have to say on NIK’s website here.

]]> http://jeffwendorff.com/2008/09/nik-sharpener-30/feed/ 0 http://jeffwendorff.com/2008/08/lightroom-2/ http://jeffwendorff.com/2008/08/lightroom-2/#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:52:57 +0000 Jeff http://jeffwendorff.com/emagazine/?p=35

Within a few days of the anniversary of the release of Adobe Lightroom comes the upgrade. There are a bunch of new features and performance tweaks. I am sure that everyine will have their favorites. At first glance mine is the second window. It is awesome to be able to see the browser and perhaps even better the loupe on full size images. I’ll write more as I use it a bit more.