NEW DATACOLOR SPYDER3 ELITE VERSION 4

In the old days of computer digital imaging those big heavy CRT monitors at least matched printers and printer paper in brightness, so no too dark prints. With today’s LCD displays most are now made as cheap as possible for home/office computing and are two to four times as bright as those old CRT monitors, which for most computing is is an advantage, but not for digital photographers who want to color anD brightness match screen and print.

Originally Color Vision with their Spyder products made monitor calibration easy and affordable, and many are using a Spyder sensor and software to calibrate and profile their display to a color matching advantage. But only the top-end software allowed measuring the White Luminance brightness of the screen reproduction, and that function was pretty well hidden except to the most demanding “experts”. Now in Version 4 of the Spyder3 Elite software the screen brightness measurement and readout is easily accessible and there are a group of preset terms available for every computing purpose to easily conform the aim points for calibration and profiling including a dialogue that assists manually adjusting the display controls to reach a particular White Luminance goal.

In addition this new version 4 provides a lot more information on the adjustment, calibration and profiling result, as well as extended evaluations of display performance that can be measured additionally with recorded results. I made a quick trial of this new software, and it works easily and well providing users with everything they can do except buying a high cost display and matching color management system that allows the computer and software to make all of the adjustments directly to the display by a DVI/DDC or USB interface.

Recently I have written about new professional level wide color gamut LCD displays that reproduce over 95% of the Adobe RGB color gamut. Some of you have purchased one of these display, or another, and a few without the proprietary sensor and software, hoping to save money by using their old sensor and its software. Usually if the sensor and software is more than a year or two old it is filtered and configured to respond to the much smaller color gamut of home/office monitor and displays; and using it with a new wide color gamut display can result in a poor or even skewed, inaccurate calibration and profile. I have found the most recent Spyder3 sensor and software will work very effectively with new wide color gamut professional displays and provide accurate calibration and profiling, and the latest Spyder3 sensitometer will also work with other brand software effectively like NEC’s Spectraview 2.

The upgrade cost is very modest, and you can even upgrade from the Pro version to Elite reasonably, so this DataColor upgrade is one that serves users well and is extremely worthwhile.

A PHOTOGRAPHER'S PURPOSE

When I became interested in photography, the photo magazines of the time were the most ready source of information. They were at that time many years ago, full of inspiring images made by the photographers popular at the time like Pete Turner, Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, as well as the famous photographers of the immediate past like Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and William Mortensen. Even some how-to books by Adams and Mortensen were helpful to a very serious enthusiast.

If you were really involved with photography, like any other interest the most successful and renowned photographers were what you wanted to emulate, and be like. Like a basketball player today, an enthusiast's hope is to make it to the status of professional. That is success.

Thanks to the military during a war, I got to a position of being paid to do photography rather easily. But I found that to e really accomplished and competitive, using my GI Bill benefit after the service to go to photography school, was the best ay to advice and get established in civilian photography,But once you have established your self professionally what you have become is someone else's photographer, not your own, The skills and abilities you have acquired in service to whoever is paying you to make a photograph for them. Now that has its rewards in profit and accomplishment, but the images are not what you would make for yourself. So, the goal of becoming a professional can be personally disappointing.

So what options are there to make photographs for the reasons that interested you in the beginning? You might be lucky and if you make photographs for yourself and then offer them for sale people will buy them. So you are lucky and some images are purchased. If this encourages you will the future images you make also be popular? If some images sell and other don't, won't you chose to make more like those that are popular? Of course, you sure won't make more like the ones that didn't sell. As this goes on are you making the images you would make for yourself, or those your customers would like to buy? Can you really be your own photographer and a professional? Or is making your own photographs and what you make to sell two different worlds. Of course this not an all or nothing balance, it is for most somewhere in the middle. But if you are photographing for other, they are part of the game.

So, the amateur enthusiast does enjoy an advantage in being true to photographing for the personal inspiration and one's own satisfaction in the image made. But although economic pressure and purpose do not influence the lone photographer following their own eye and inspiration, are we ever truly independent? Does the idea of what is good photography in the opinion of others have any influence? As much as people share their photos over the internet these days, I am sure whatever reaction is obtained might be encouraging or discouraging. Are we waver entirely free to be ourselves and express ourselves candidly, Not really unless we keep it all to ourselves.

Today I don’t get out much to photograph very often, not because it wouldn’t be enjoyable, but I’m old and tired and just getting out is more of a burden than a pleasure. But I have almost 60 years of memories and a library of photographs made in those years. I have culled out nearly all the photos I made professionally and kept those I made for the pleasure of it when I wasn’t working. There is not a great photo among them but the reason I was inspired to make the image remains, and is relived every time I do something with the image. Time and its perspective tells me what my purpose was, and I am afraid mine was rather self-serving as often as I could afford to play as a photo enthusiast. Being professional just paid the bills.

DOES HAVING THE MOST TOYS WIN OR LOOSE?

Today was the first one that the Apple iPad was delivered to customers. That was interesting considering there were long lines at every Apple store of people who had pre-ordered an iPad. They could just as well stayed home and their new iPad would have been delivered to them. So why stand in-line? There were also reams of commentary in my news gathering this morning, mostly vacant observations of course. But there was one telling insight of the fact unlike computers which are used to work and create stuff, the iPad is designed as a consumer of stuff. My computers are used mostly to do research, process and edit images and write articles and blogs. But I must admit I just bought another iMac, this time to replace my cable box to download entertainment, and that is consumption.

Of course that does not answer the question although the iPad is another toy. What does answer the question is the purpose to the individual a toy has, how is it used and why. Cameras in this respect are toys and some photographers collect more and more, better toys. Sometimes I see them displayed at greatly known and visited tourist attractions. I seldom visit these congregations of popularism, places like the south rim of the Grand Canyon, but some years ago I did because I had a traveling companion who had never seen the southwest of America. While my guest was enthralled by the view I was captivated by the tourists with 35mm SLR cameras hung around their necks, nearly all festooned with long telephoto zoom lenses. To capture the Grand Canyon on film you need the shortest wide-angle possible to even get part of its expanse on film. I never saw one of those cameras with a large phallus attached lifted and pointed at a subject, so I had to assume the gear was some kind of symbol, a badge of recognition. Look I have a big professional looking camera so name me photographer. Maybe that is a little crass, but I think toys have an identity purpose for many who collect them.

When I was a photo student I had one instructor I took very seriously. His name was Boris Dobro, and he was a European who had escaped the Nazi scourge in the 1930’s. He was highly prized and respected in salon photography exhibitions that were popular in Europe between the Wars. And, was particularly appreciated by many students who wanted to learn the art of printing photographs. But occassionally he would get reflective and take a break to tell stories from his past. The one that stuck with me now for 45 years was about a group of camera clubs that made large salon prints for exhibition and competition. It involved an unusual membership rule that everyone use a Zeis Ikon box camera for all their photographs submitted to the clubs for show and contest. Now the Zeis Ikon box camera was no Baby Brownie camera but had a multi-element lens, and aperture and shutter speed control. But of course the idea was to require a basic camera everyone could afford and that the purpose of the members activity was to create competitive, fine, photographic prints based entirely on the members talent and craftsmanship, and not on whether they could afford the best and most sophisticated equipment.

I am sure the clubs did not survive the Nazi regime as they were just too idealistically egalitarian and democratic.

But the concept and the Zeis Ikon box camera club’s placing value on skill and craftsmanship instead of the idea you need the best equipment remains. And it has been proven to me as I got to know many of the best photographers work over the years including, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Morley Baer, as well as William Mortensen and W. Eugene Smith, to name just a few that used minimal equipment and great creative craftsmanship.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND NOT!

Recently I have reported on products I have tested and used. If a product works for me I will recommend it as I assume if I can make it work, others should also be able to do so. This may involve hardware and software used together, one being supported by the other, and may include additional products designed to be used with the primary product. Some of these products are designed to be proprietary, to work only with the recommended additions as advertised. I am usually strict and limited about my recommendations and do not include options for substitutions.

Some readers, wanting to save money have chosen to use older products with the primary new product, and have written to me criticizing me for not recommending such savings shortcuts. The reason I don’t recommend them is I have no evidence the results I have obtained that I base my recommendation upon will be achieved using some substituted product the reader already owns. I can only recommend what I know works and works as the manufacturer intended.

A very short time ago I reported I had purchased a new large color gamut Eizo Flexscan LCD display. It replaced an older standard, smaller color gamut LCD display. So I used software that is current and up to date to adjust, calibrate and profile this new Flexscan. The colorimeter I used to work with the software is one I have used reliably for several years and has achieved good high quality calibration and profiles with several older displays I own as well as some newer models I have tested. But with this newest Eizo LCD display was different with the result of the calibration and profiling that seemed a little off even though the profile file checked out as being OK.

So I asked DataColor the company that made the Spyder3 colorimeter I used if I could purchase a newer more recent model to replace my old sensor. I received a new colorimeter yesterday. I saved my old calibration and profile, and then made another set with the new colorimeter. I then used Chromix Color Think to compare the two and found the profile made with the older sensitometer was skewed quite noticeably, and it was also irregular compared to profiles made with my older, lower color gamut LCD displays.

This test experience confirmed the information I obtained from a color management designer, not long ago, that the new wider color gamut displays require using a sensitometer with a matching sensitivity range and different filtering for measuring the light from these new displays. And from my own tests I have found that LCD displays made by different manufacturers, although the color gamut size is similar may include differences in the chromatic attributes of that range of color reproduced. So, there is more than product exclusivity in some maker’s proprietary policies that is based on assuring a greater accuracy of color matched results and the calibration and profile quality created and used by users.

The bottom line is that as performance is extended in more refined products, the demand for adjustment, calibration and profiling accuracy becomes more critical. So, the bottom line is reduced by any economic saving from using older color management tools designed for lower performing LCD displays. In other words I cannot justifiably support economic savings when a user makes an investment in a higher performance LCD display if it is not accompanied by matching color measurement and calibration/profiling support, because you will only be getting part of the potential advantage of that higher performance display.

CONFUSION: TOO MANY FORKS IN THE ROAD

No this is not an article about politics, the Progressives against the party of NO!, both confronted by those apparently drinking something stronger than “tea” that want to blow up, destroy, or whatever to everything governmental. The computer world is beginning to also be a tangle of conflicting paths going in different directions with a mystery goal no one is talking about.

I started following this meandering and increasingly complicated issue because many digital photographers want to make digital slideshows and show them on their TV, or send the slideshow to relatives and friends to show on their TV’s. Initially photographers had to get software to create slide-shows in 1080 resolution video format so they would play with a DVD player through a TV. But since then both Microsoft with Windows 7 and Apple with their Snow Leopard OS 10.6 have basic support. But with Windows you have to download the photo-video software from the Microsoft web site and install it. With Apple to obtain application support you will need to add iLife 09 at a very modest cost, and install it.

In the interim, I suggested just getting an HDMI cable one end to connect to the HD TV set and a DVI plug on the other end that can be connected to a computer, either Mac or PC, and show your computer’s screen image on and HD TV and play slideshows directly from a folder of image files. Apparently few liked that idea, although I spent a little change and tried it and found these easy slide shows are rather spectacular.

Many who have broad-band internet connection use a router that is WiFi so you have a wireless connection to run the internet to any computer anywhere in your home. This fact has been understood and in a 2009 model Samsung BD-P3600 Blu-Ray player WiFi is built into the player, so you can connect your TV to some internet sites like Hulu or NetFlix and get downloaded video content on your TV. Soon to be delivered is a LG Electronics Blu Ray player model LG BD570 with advertised greater support for more internet video sites and purported live video feeds from a computer with WiFi internet connectivity. Even though it is being sold, but I’ve not heard delivered as yet, I am not going to drop close to $300 to find out if it works.

The WiFi Bu-Ray players made me curious if there might be another way to use WiFi to connect a computer to an HD TV. There are several companies, which look like they are European, that have less costly WiFi receiver/sender units with USB connection to a Windows computer and an interface like HDMI for an HD TV. One company is Cable Unlimited Wireless and another Warpia Wireless both with kits between $100 and $150 and available on Amazon.com. I’d give this a go but I don’t have a PC although I do run Windows on one of my Macs.

During the same time-span there has been a hot debate involving the FCC about the proposed Comcast buyout of NBC/MSNBC, that would merge content provision with TV’s largest cable provider. There is much opposition to this kind of extension towards monopoly. But American corporations seem intent on getting bigger and charging ordinary citizens ever more for services. On the other hand the government’s Stimulus Bill has provisions to try to expand the provision of broadband for more people affordably, but maybe that is too European and “socialist” to some, so may not materialize.That could be just as well, in my estimation, as cable TV has more and more channels chalk full of mostly advertising and a little, mindlessly bad entertainment.

So, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that I may soon be able to access what I want to watch on my TV over the Internet - but don’t tell my cable provider as they provide connection to my modem supplying my broadband connection!

Of course there is more to this as the slideshow issue illustrated. To me it is unfortunate photographers have to convert a selection of images and program them into a video to be able to show a series of slides on an LCD HD TV. Easier and more effective options should be available. In addition, a more generally supported cross platform interface between TV and computers could make the two better partners in educational and communications functions that could benefit many people. This should be supported rather than hindered purely for corporate profit interests, because much good is gained by these services being more accessible and affordable to a wider part of the population. Some of the help I try to provide my Shutterbug readers could be improved and made more useful to many more to make use of digital computer photography more easily and be more rewarding. I have researched I am sure just a little of this, and I am sure there are others who can contribute additional information, so let’s hear from you, so write me an e-mail at goofotografx@gmail.com

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 20 YEARS?

In the last issue of Shutterbug I reported on Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, and this week Adobe is celebrating their 20th anniversary of Photoshop. Usually when I have a product report like Elements 8 in an issue it results in some questions in my e-mail box. This time most were whether Elements 8 has any more 16-bit file support than previous versions. The answer is that Adobe for now considers 16-bit support professional and so the user should have Photoshop CS 4 which does offer that and much more. Are there any other options? Yes, fortunately we still have many competing manufacturers making many products like automobiles, so we are not stuck with one choice of what to drive.

For the Elements user who wants more support yet does not want to or can’t afford Photoshop CS 4, Corel just made the PaintShop Pro Photo X3 application available. And although Corel has owned this software for just a few years, it has a solid history as an image editing application for Windows users as long or longer than Elements. So how does it compare? Well for the readers of Shutterbug who have questioned me and probably many more who want to move to doing “professional” photo editing, this new version of PaintShop Pro Photo X3 does have support for 16-bit image files.

In addition it has new and improved features that an Elements user may want and need, like a new Organizer, support for Raw format with their Camera RAW Lab so digital camera files can be converted and adjusted, a multiple photo adjustment feature that makes batch processing easier, a Smart Carver image object remover to eliminate unwanted bits and pieces of a photograph, Express Lab that bring the more frequently used image adjustment tools into one window on your computer screen, an Object Extractor that makes masking complex image objects more precisely and easier, and finally amongst the new, Project Creator to output your newly made photo files as books, collages, cards, and most importantly photo slideshows. It supports HD video format slideshows and provides also easy ways to share on YouTube, Facebook and any new internet media to come probably.

Most important to serious digital photographer computer users, PaintShop Pro Photo X3 has all of the image correction and adjustment tools, including gamut optimization or as Adobe calls it Levels, brightness/contrast, color balance, color hue and saturation adjustment, about everything you are used to and expect. The off-side of that is the names and dialogues can be different; but, with just a little effort and thought you can do all the image color correction and adjustment and practice will make the process as easy as using any other software, and there are others, that have also offered advanced manual control of the attributes of digital photographic image files. Corel PaintShop Pro Photo X3 is now about the most complete of serious photo image applications, and the least costly with a list price of $99.95, (and often offered for less) - take a look at
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1184951547051#tabview=tab0

UPDATES - NEW STUFF THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE

In my last post I mentioned that I had just purchased a Sigma DP1s that has just been released to the market. Don Ellis informed me that Version 5.6 of Adobe Camera Raw, I had not yet installed, had support for this odd camera with a Foveon 3 sensor chip - that’s fast and indicates Sigma’s use of the Foveon is catching on even in a camera design that is not the usual but with a fixed focal length lens. I tried using Adobe Camera Raw with some DP1s files and had to agree with Don Ellis, that like most 3rd party convertors, it falls short of the camera manufacturer’s software.. But that does not fully satisfy me so I went to Lasersoft and they were interested in providing support for the camera with their SilverFast DC and HDR, so I did what I could to help them with the project.

Of course the dominating news was the Steve Jobs presentation of Apple’s new iPad. Another “tablet” and this time hopefully a fully successful small, portable and very affordable combination of computer and internet media device with WiFi and cell connectivity. What just one commentator suggested is the iPad’s potential for students is it’s a real learning device including book reading capacity that goes way beyond what some have attempted to do for children and students with cheap, small laptops. Now the question is will the education establishment get on board and help students use this new access to the world of knowledge to learn and expand their curiosity beyond social networking.

Of course you may have heard Google is trying to move ahead with scanning and digitizing the books of the world’s libraries with much opposition, fair and unfair. But lets all hope the information in the serious world becomes more accessible. But that is just a part of it because a lot of people with skills and knowledge to share have not learned the ePub standard is readily accessible, for instance simply using the Adobe Acrobat PDF-A format, so everyone can become an author if they have something to contribute. What have you learned in a lifetime of living?

NEC MAKES ANOTHER LARGER PA-SERIES DISPLAY AVAILABLE

NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, announces the new MultiSync® PA Series, successor to the critically acclaimed MultiSync 90 Series, by introducing the MultiSync PA241W. Designed for professional graphics applications, this 24-inch desktop display is ideal for digital photography, video editing, print production and any environment in which color accuracy is crucial.

The PA241W continues the MultiSync 90 Series’ tradition of delivering crisp, accurate images while adding improved color coverage, sleeker industrial design and enhanced connectivity. The display features 102 percent coverage of NTSC and 99.3 percent of Adobe® RGB, an increase from 72 percent in the MultiSync LCD2490WUXi². With a 38 percent smaller footprint size, the display provides users with more desktop space and decreased costs in shipping and storage. Improved cable management enables simpler setup of the monitor, while its new 10-bit DisplayPort and USB hub add to an already diverse set of input connectors.

“NEC’s MultiSync PA Series is a flagship desktop monitor family that carries market leadership in the color, medical and professional industries,” said Art Marshall, Product Manager at NEC Display Solutions. “The MultiSync PA241W, the first model in this series, focuses on both workflow productivity and color accuracy, with the aim to improve upon the success of the MultiSync 90 Series. Users that require a reliable display for color precision will want to take advantage of the sophisticated technologies used in the MultiSync PA Series, starting with the PA241W.”

Below is a partial list of features included in the MultiSync PA241W:
. 1920 x 1200 native resolution in 16:10 aspect ratio
. 10-bit IPS LCD panel with 14-bit lookup table, which increases color depth to more than one-billion possible colors
. 360 cd/m² brightness
. 1000:1 contrast ratio
. 102 percent coverage of NTSC and 99.3 percent coverage of Adobe RGB
. Improved connectivity with 10-bit DisplayPort, DVI-D with HDCP and USB hub
. Improved cable management and smaller stand size
. Ergonomic stand with tilt, swivel, height-adjust and pivot
. DisplaySync Pro, which controls two computers with only one keyboard and mouse
. 3D lookup table, which enables accurate representation of hard-to-match color spaces
. ICC profile emulation, which loads ICC color profiles to accurately support manufacturer color spaces
. Color Vision Emulation, which allows a quick preview of colors that emulate color vision problems
. Ambient light sensor and automatic backlight adjustment for use in any lighting condition
. Carbon footprint meter, which allows users to easily track carbon savings

The MultiSync PA241W is available for shipment with an estimated street price of $1,079 and ships with a 4-year parts and labor warranty, including the backlight. Additional models in the MultiSync PA Series will be announced throughout 2010, including models with the award-winning SpectraView 2 Color Calibration Solution.

EIZO HAS A NEW LCD DISPLAY, AND I WANT ONE

Quite a few months ago I tested and reported on an Eizo ColorEdge display that was ideal in every way except it was far beyond my budget. Now they have a Flexscan model S2243W that has all the essential features a serious digital photographers needs, and should sell for well under a $1,000. But I have not been able to find one yet at any of the web dealers I frequent.

Here are some particulars: This 22" monitor for home office, business, CAD, and digital photography presents a cost- and space-saving alternative to 24.1" monitors by offering the same 1920 × 1200 resolution in 10% less desk space. This is a fine screen resolution that has been missing since the high-end 20.1 inch LCD displays were discontinued. It also comes with three inputs including DisplayPort.

* 1920 × 1200 native resolution
* 1200:1 contrast ratio
* 350 cd/m2 brightness
* Digital/analog inputs


Wide Color Gamut

Color reproduction area of this monitor reproduces 95% of the Adobe RGB color space. This means it can display most colors of a photograph taken in a camera's Adobe RGB mode including many shades of cyan and emerald green that fall outside the color gamut of typical sRGB monitors.

Simple Color Matching with EIZO EasyPIX: EIZO easyPIX image, The optional EIZO EasyPIX color matching tool is ideal for digital SLR camera users looking to match colors between their monitors and photo prints. With the EasyPIX software you can match the monitor’s color and brightness with that of the photo paper and then create a monitor profile with the bundled EX1 color sensor. No expertise in color management is required and the profile can be shared with image retouching software to ensure accurate results when printing.