For those of you using Adobe Premier, After Effects, and Media Encoder (Version CS5.5), Adobe has a new importer that supports the higher resolution and HDR capabilities of the new EPIC system.  Download the update here.

via 2-pop

The British Journal of Photography has a great review of the new Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G Lens.  It’s the first Nikon 35mm f/1.4 lens to offer autofocus, and is quite respectable, though it has a few shortcomings, like slight axial distortion and some vignetting.

Lexar has released an update to its Dual-card USB 2.0 reader, using USB 3.0 for higher throughput.  In my experience, people that shoot video on their DSLRs are the ones who most benefit from higher throughput on card readers, so if you fall into that camp (and don’t already have the firewire CF reader, and have a USB 3.0 port available) head on over to Lexar and pick up the new USB 3.0 reader.

via Rob Galbraith

Rob Galbraith is pointing out an issue announced on the Lightroom Journal; a bug in the way Lightroom 3.4 and Camera Raw 6.4 handle JPEGs with unusually large blocks of private camera data, that will corrupt the JPEG.  The only camera currently identified as building a JPEG that can trigger the bug is the HP Photosmart R607.

The fine folks over at PetaPixel are reminding us that today marks the 150the anniversary of the first color photograph, taken by Scottish physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell and photographer Thomas Sutton — inventor of the SLR camera. Their first color photograph was of a colored ribbon.

Updated May 18, 2011 @ 8:41 AM – Originally I left the word “color” out of the first sentence.  Fixed it.  That’ll teach me not to proofread at least twice.

I hadn’t yet heard of the Cinedeck EXTREME, but it looks to be a fairly cool and useful tool.  There’s a press release over at Broadcast Newsroom which talks about a documentary shot by Evolve IMG Films in which the Cinedeck was used.  The Cinedeck is an external recording device that has a 7″ “high res” preview/focus/playback monitor.  It boasts an internal solid-state hard disk, and accepts HDMI, HD-SDI, and LAN camera inputs.  According to the press release, Evolve IMG used it to record from both their Alexa and a Canon 5D.  It stores recorded video as Uncomressed 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 HD, Apple ProRes, Avid DNxHD, or CineForm DI files.  You can find more information on the Cinedeck Here (all-flash somewhat non-intuitive website… bleh), and the Broadcast Newsroom article here.

I didn’t know Hurlbut had a rental division.  However, in a blog post by Kevin Anderson, Hurlbut’s Rental Manager, talks about some of the Chaos his gear goes through and what their “Movie Maker” HDSLR kit loos like, including a 5D, a 7D, a full set of Leica glass, mattebox, tripod, batteries, EVF… this list is pretty extensive. Oh, and if you’re interested, heres the link to their rentals page.

PetaPixel is pointing us at an interesting article by photographer Lawrence Kim called “Photography and the American Dream”, were he takes a look at the economics of being a pro photographer, and sees it as the worst possible career choice if your goal is primarily to build wealth.  It worth a read.

When I was taking broadcasting classes, my instructors actually disdained the use of the terms “We’ll be right back”, “We’ll be back after this”, or “And, were back”.  They rightly reasoned that since you weren’t actually going anywhere, it was grammatically incorrect to use such terms when pausing for “sponsored messages” (such a nice term for commercials, don’t you think?), and you risk losing the connection you have with your listeners when you tell them you’re leaving.

That being said, I feel such embarrassment for allowing PhotoTimes to languish these last few months, that “And, we’re back!” seems the only fitting phrase to use.  I promise to endeavor to give the PhotoTimes the attention it deserves and keep you abreast of the news and information that such fine photographers and filmmakers as yourselves need to know.

Vincent Laforet has gotten very excited about a little gadget from Freelance Audiovisual Services call the Lockit Buddy.  Essentially, it plugs into your camera’s mic input jack, and writes Timecode information to the right channel, and your reference audio to the left.  It handles all the impedance and level conversions for you.  The embedded timecode should work out of the box if you’re editing with Avid, and there’s a tool called FCPauxTC by VideoToolshed that will strip out the TimeCode data and create an auxiliary time code track for you to use in Final Cut Pro.

Chipworks is a company that famously tears apart higher-end consumer goods to have a peek a what makes them tick.  Their Teardown of the Nikon D7000 revealed a Sony Image sensor, a Toshiba processor (well, microcontroller), 1 GB of onboard RAM, and of course the Nikon EXPEED image processor.  For those of you wondering why two processors are necessary, the Toshiba processor is responsible for dislpaying images on the LCD, making the camera do things when all the buttons, knobs, and switches are used, monitoring the battery, etc.  The EXPEED processor would be responsible for controlling the sensor itself, interpreting the raw bits coming off that sensor, and doing something intelligent with them before handing them off to the Toshiba to be written to the memory card.

via Rob Galbraith

P.S.  Sorry about the “#pocketwizard” twitter tag.  My browser thought it knew what I was going to type for tags, and I wasn’t paying enough attention to it :-)

I saw brief mention of this thing quite some time ago, but apparently now it’s been rolled into a real product line.  It’s an inflatable studio-on-the-go.  As little as 40″x15″ when folded up, it blows up in to a room that’s 20 feet long by 15 feet wide and 13 feet tall.  Air is supplied by an industrial fan that is supposedly very quiet.  The maker’s FAQ also mentions that the surfaces are not matte, but not reflective enough to cause issue, just make sure you bring a backdrop with stands as well as your blow-up studio.

I must confess that I’m more than a little skeptical.  I have a hard time seeing any respectable photographer telling his or her client that they’re going to be bringing a studio in the form of a huge blow-up room.   It doesn’t help that most of the photos of the product itself are badly photoshopped and that the only quotes the maker has are from generic tech pundits and not professional photographers.

Then again, I’d love to be wrong.  Here’s to hoping this thing is awesome.

via Rob Galbraith

Phase One has made some waves lately, making bold steps to become a major force in the world of medium format photography.  Today that trend continues as they announce a new 80 Megapixel back, due out in April.  The new back has a dynamic range of 12.5 f-stops, and has a 16 bit color depth.  The LCD on the back is “mutitouch” capable, to help you pan and zoom around an image as well as use the back’s menus, and the back has a new USB 3 connection, as well as firewire 8 for tethering and offloading your data.  It looks like the new back will fit a range of Phase One, Mamiya, and Hasselblad cameras, as well as the Contax 645.  Check out the datasheet for more info.

This Guy.  Seriously. In a shot that looks like it was done with helicopters and/or ziplines or quite possibly done entirely with CG, we get to see the behind the scenes where the Steadicam operator goes full speed on a Segway (with his First AC running beside him, pulling focus the whole way) to ditching the Segway and running onto stage (still pulling focus!) and around the lead singer in one smooth shot. Whoa.  Thank you PetaPixel, for our “Holy Crap!” moment of the day.  The music itself made me chuckle a bit though…  It reminded me of unlaced Reeboks, pants with big holes in the knees, and Levi jackets with a massive patch on the back advertising your favorite hair band.

The UK’s “Guardian” newspaper has a cool little video about one guy’s quest to document photographic darkrooms.  He sees them as giving way to newer technology, and wants to see them given some attention before they’re gone.