I admit I’ve been out of touch a bit since Photoshop World in
Miami. I came home, wrote some stuff and immediately lit out
for Minnesota and Wisconsin to shoot the fall colors. And wow,
what fall colors!
So, returning to the grind, I contemplate getting back in
touch. First news, Apple’s new iPod with voice notation and
photo storage capabilities, requiring a separate card reader.
I’ve been wondering when Apple would get on the photo storage
train since the iPod first arrived.
Now Belkin has announced its image reader for the iPod,
handling up to five card formats and transferring image via
Firewire. Neat. But… does the iPod screen show the images a’la
FlashTrax? Here’s what it might look like (hoked up in
Photoshop).
Speaking of FlashTrax, Stuart Cox, VP for Product Development
at SmartDisk, responded to my complaint about the difficulty
of using the FlashTrax software to delete files by telling me
about version 1.5.640 download which solves the problem. So
now, my FlashTrax operates more like a real computer with
simpler navigation and easy file/folder control.
Until the iPod does show images in color on its screen, the
FlashTrax remains the finest portable image download and
storage device available.
While you’re waiting for Photoshop (8) CS to ship,
check out the features at Photoshop Online
(www.photoshopuser.com). Scott Kelby, Pete Bauer, Dave Cross
and Adobe’s Terry White have put some succinct feature stories
and movies up for your perusal. It’s a great way to be ready
when the CS box finally arrives.
And Adobe’s Russell Brown has offered Doctor Brown’s Fantastic
Image Processor… available as a download at
www.russellbrown.com. If you’ve never visited Russell’s
website, you’re in for a weird and wonderful experience.
DBFIProcessor is a Photoshop CS script that batch processes
images from the file browser and has a world of exacting
controls. Best of all, it doesn’t use Actions which often go
off the tracks in complex processing situations. Download it
now and be ready when the CS box finally arrives.
Russell is Adobe’s chief art director and an enthusiastic
evangelist for Photoshop. His site contains many QuickTime
movies that illustrate obscure but very useful PS techniques
of his own invention.
Nikon isn’t the only company tailoring lenses for its D-series
digital cameras.
Sigma has announced a 12-24mm f:3.5 zoom for its own cameras
as well as Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax and Minolta cameras
for about $900.
And a final shot. Three of the nearly 60 folks who signed up
for the Nikon South Beach Photo Safari at Photoshop World
Miami were indignant when they found out that we would not be
using the Nikon D2H for the safari. Come’on folks, get real!
Nikon had announced the D2H about two weeks earlier and did
well to have pre-production models at its trade show booth.
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