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June Photo Walk : Night Photography at Blackhawk Plaza

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Join Michael on this photo walk to Blackhawk Plaza, the East Bay’s premier shopping and dining destination…and also a great shooting location. This plaza features an aquatic landscaped courtyard full of reflecting pools, waterfalls and whimsical sculptures, making it a fun photographer’s playground which will certainly challenge your creativity.

We will start at dusk and learn how to make waterfalls and moving water look silky smooth. You will learn how shutter speed, aperture and ISO are all related and how to use all three effectively to improve your photos. Once it gets dark, we will continue to shoot under the lights of the courtyard, shooting long exposures with cameras on tripods. This photo walk is tailor made for the novice shooter – although photographers of all abilities are invited to attend.

This photo walk will be limited to no more than 12 photographers so be sure to sign up early before it fills.

Thursday, June 27

7:30 PM

Cost : $25.00

Call or email Michael at Camera West in Walnut Creek for more info or to sign up.

michael@camerawest.com

925-935-1424

 

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New Zeiss Touit Lenses

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Lens maker Carl Zeiss showed off two new prime lenses for Sony NEX and Fujifilm X mirrorless compact system cameras at a press event in New York City trecently. The 12mm f/2.8 and 32mm f/1.8 are the first models in a new line of autofocus CSC lenses that Zeiss has named after a small Brazilian parrot, the touit. Optimized to work with the Sony and Fuji APS-C-sensor-based CSCs, the two lenses offer fields of view that are roughly equivalent to those of 18mm and 49mm lenses on a 35mm or full-frame digital camera. Both optics feature the company’s T* antireflective coating.

Both new Touit lenses will be available by early June. The 12mm f/2.8 will carry a list price of $1,250, while the 32mm f/1.8 will sell for $900. Zeiss also plans to add a 50mm f/2.8 macro lens to the Touit line in late 2013.

 

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New Canon 200-400mm F4 IS

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After much speculation, Canon has officially announced the new 200-400mm f/4 IS
1.4x. The lens was first introduced back in February 2011. It wasn’t a launch, though,
but rather an “in development” announcement in which Canon officially informs the
world of a future product that’s being developed.
Designed to satisfy the discriminating needs of sports and wildlife photographers,
the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4X is a high-performance super
telephoto zoom lens with an optically matched built-in 1.4x extender for maximum
versatility. With a simple flick of a switch, the zoom range can be quickly increased
to 280-560mm (f/5.6) on a full frame body.

Features :

* Built-in 1.4x extender, for extra magnification when you need it
* Shoot in low light with four-stop Image Stabilizer
* High image quality using Fluorite lens elements
* Fast AF with USM technology
* Robust design for use in the toughest environments

The new Canon 200-400mm f/4L IS 1.4x will be available towards the end of May, with a price tag of $11,799.

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New Retro Looking Olympus

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Olympus today announced a retro looking addition to its PEN lineup.

Designed with a modern twist to the original PEN F, fans of the Olympus PEN family of cameras now have the PEN E-P5. The flagship PEN body that delivers a portable, premium quality experience. The E-P5 is packed with the latest innovations Olympus technology has to offer including 1/8000s Shutter Speed, 5-Axis Image Stabilization, “F.A.S.T” AF Speed, Built-In Wi-Fi capability*, 2×2 dial control and more.

Features :

  • 16MP MOS Four Thirds sensor
  • Dual top plate control dials with a “2×2″ function changing option
  • 1/8000 sec top shutter speed (first in a mirrorless body) and 1/320 sec flash sync
  • ’5-axis’ image stabilization with automatic panning detection
  • ISO 100-25600
  • Up to 9fps shooting (5.0 fps with continuous AF)
  • Focus ‘peaking’ display for manual focus lenses
  • Intervalometer and Time Lapse movie creation
  • 1.04m dot 3″ LCD touchscreen display
  • Built-in Wi-Fi for remote shooting and image transfer to smartphone or tablet

The Olympus PEN E-P5 will be available later this month in the following configurations : Body only, available in Black, Silver or White, $999.99
Black or Silver body with black M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17mm f1.8 lens and VF-4 Electronic Viewfinder lens, $1449.99

 

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New Photoshop…Goodbye CS, Hello CC

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Adobe just announced several major changes to their software. To take advantage however, you need to subscribe to their Creative Cloud.

In Adobe’s transition from Creative Suite to Creative Cloud, subscribers get a slate of extra services for their $50 monthly subscription. Access to Sync services, 20GB of online storage, automatic cross-platform downloading and updates to all programs in the suite, and training are some of the benefits built into subscriptions.

Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud) is the first version unilaterally tied to Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription service. There’s no numbering system — at least for now. It’s just called Adobe CC.

Another major change is that Photoshop Extended, the more expensive Photoshop package that included 3D capability and sophisticated image analysis tools has now been merged into Photoshop CC. Now, there is just one Photoshop.

Although not released until June, here are some of the new features you can expect in the new Photoshop CC :

  • All-new Smart Sharpen: Photoshop CC analyzes image data to maximize clarity and minimize noise and halo. A range of new editable options lets you fine-tune images to get richer textures, crisper edges and more distinct details.
  • Intelligent Upsampling: Preserve detail and sharpness while enlarging images for different print sizes. The new upsampling tool retains edge detail and reduces the noise and artifacts normally associated with enlarging images.
  • Camera Shake Reduction: Save shots you thought were lost due to camera motion. Whether your blur was caused by slow shutter speed or a long focal length, Camera Shake Reduction analyzes the trajectory of the camera shake and helps restore sharpness.
  • Editable Rounded Rectangles: Creating shapes has never been so flexible. The ability to resize and re-edit shapes after they’ve been created is one of the most-requested features added to Photoshop CC. Web designers will also be able to export CSS data from files to use later.
  • Adobe Camera Raw 8 and ACR as a filter: Apply new effects to your images with ACR’s new Advanced Healing Brush, Radial Gradient and Upright tools. Adobe Camera Raw’s powerful tools can now be used as a filter, allowing you to use controls like Clarity, Noise reduction and Temperature on any layer at any time.

If you are currently using Lightroom, Adobe will continue support without cloud subscription.

More info on Adobe.com.