Digital Photography Review Newsletter: Wednesday, 5 October 2011

	Digital Photography Review Newsletter Wednesday, 5 October 2011 The most popular weekly photography newsletter, with over 300,000 subscribers
Welcome to the 460th Digital Photography Review newsletter. Sony NEX-5N reviewed It's been another busy week at dpreview, with the usual selection of news and articles. This time they're topped-off with a review of the Sony NEX-5N. It's the second step up in Sony's range of E-mount mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras and represents a much bigger advance over the original NEX-5 than its near-identical looks would suggest. It gains a touch screen, 16MP sensor and the ability to shoot 1080p60 movies, along with the ability to accept an optional 2.4M dot OLED electronic viewfinder. These changes, combined with improved customisation options, make this a very different prospect from the slightly under-cooked state of the original NEX cameras when they were launched. So what did we think of the NEX-5N? Click here to read our review. Olympus E-PM1 previewed Now the most recent surge of launches has abated, we found a moment to write a full preview of the Olympus E-PM1. The PEN Mini is the least expensive and one of the smallest mirrorless cameras on the market, so we took a closer look. In addition to our written preview, we've also included our second hands-on video to help show some of the camera's details. Click here to both read and hear about the Olympus PEN Mini. User-generated articles It's unusual for a site's content management system to make any perceptible difference for site users, but the system introduced to make it easier for external contributors to write for the site is now available to all members. Do you have a technique you want to share, or do you have a particular insight into an aspect of digital photography? You can now share them with the world via our community articles feature. There's no one forcing you to, of course, we just wanted the people who contribute so much useful information to the forums to have somewhere a little more prominent and permanent to post it. Click here to find out more. Win a Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 VC In the first of what we hope will be a series of sponsored challenges, Tamron is offering dpreview's members the chance to win an SP 17-50mm F/2.8 Di II XR VC LD Aspherical (IF) in Canon or Nikon mount. All you have to do is submit an image to the Tamron Prize Challenge: Travel and Nature and wait to see who the public vote as the winner. Click here to see the entries so far. Richard
News updates Book review: The Adobe Photoshop CS5 Book for Digital Photographers Published on 28 September 2011 18:27:33 GMT For many photographers Scott Kelby's Photoshop 'how-to' books are the standard by which others are judged. As Adobe releases new versions of Photoshop, Scott Kelby rewrites his manual to the program to address relevant changes and upgrades. Click through to read Adam Koplan's review of the latest edition of this popular book which covers Photoshop CS5. Read full story → Create your own articles - public beta launched today Published on 28 September 2011 21:00:14 GMT A few weeks ago we launched our articles section and we promised that you'd soon be able to create your own articles, photo blogs and other personal content using our newly-developed browser-based editor and content manager. We're excited to announce that today we've opened up access to this cool new tool for all registered members. Find out more after the link... Read full story → Adobe releases Lightroom 3.5 and ACR 6.5 Published on 29 September 2011 10:06:11 GMT Adobe has released Photoshop Lightroom 3.5 and Camera Raw 6.5. These are final versions of updates that were originally posted as 'release candidates' on the Adobe Labs site, and are available for immediate download. The latest versions provide final RAW support for 15 additional cameras including the Olympus E-P3, E-PL3 and E-PM1, Panasonic G3 and GF3, Pentax Q, and Sony NEX-C3, NEX-5N, SLT-A35, SLT-A65 and SLT-A77. A number of digital backs from Leaf and Phase One are also now supported. Read full story → Article: Using a DMCA takedown notice to fight copyright infringement Published on 29 September 2011 19:27:10 GMT Carolyn E. Wright is an attorney who specializes in the legal needs of photographers. In this article she explains how the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) can help to get your images removed from websites that display them without your permission (Please note that the DMCA is US legislation. While this law is not available in other jurisdictions, copyright law is similar in countries that are signatories to the Berne convention). Read full story → Flickr offers Android app including image processing Published on 29 September 2011 23:57:58 GMT Photo sharing site Flickr has launched an Android app for uploading, browsing and processing images. The image processing - which allows the application of ten filters and effects - is one of a number of features not included in the equivalent iOS app. These features put it squarely into competition with the popular, iOS-only 'Instagram' processing and sharing service. Flickr says an iOS version will follow 'in the coming months.' Read full story → Flickr adds 'Photo Session' feature for real-time sharing and discussion Published on 29 September 2011 23:57:58 GMT Yahoo has reiterated its commitment to Flickr, adding a 'Photo Session' feature to the photo sharing website. Photo Session allows the user to invite friends and family to join-in real-time slideshow/presentations, during which participants can chat about and even sketch on the images being show. Read full story → Redrock Micro creates Canon EF to MFT adapter with aperture control Published on 30 September 2011 00:54:14 GMT DSLR video accessory specialist Redrock Micro has created a Canon EF to Micro Four Thirds lens adapter. The LiveLens MFT adds the electronics required to control the aperture on the mounted EOS lenses. A 9V battery and a touch-panel allows the adapter to specify the lens aperture in 1/3EV steps. The adapter costs $442.50 and is available directly from the manufacturer's website. (Via Photography Blog) Read full story → Sony SLT-A77 studio comparison samples updated with ACR 6.5 Published on 30 September 2011 22:20:15 GMT Updated Sony SLT A-77 studio comparison RAW shots. We've just re-processed our A-77 shots of the standard studio test scene with the latest version of Adobe Camera RAW - ACR 6.5. (we had originally used a beta version of ACR 6.5). The differences are fairly minimal but the updated shots are are now available in the comparison tool. Read full story → Article: How to shoot creative canine photographs Published on 02 October 2011 13:00:20 GMT Professional animal photographer Andy Sheng tells us how to shoot creative canine photography. In this first part of his series he demonstrates how to capture the natural beauty and personality of a dog and shows us some of his favorite images. Read full story → Article: How the iPhone changed my photography Published on 03 October 2011 18:48:13 GMT Dpreview's Barnaby Britton takes look back at how the iPhone has transformed his photography. And, with the iPhone now the most popular camera on photo-sharing site Flickr, and a multitude of photography apps available, how the device has transformed cellphone photography as a whole. Read full story → Tamron offers 17-50mm F2.8 VC prize for dpreview challenge Published on 03 October 2011 19:47:17 GMT Tamron is offering an F2.8 zoom to the winner of a Travel and Nature challenge on dpreview.com. The competition, open to any registered dpreview member, runs until October 24th. The winner will be decided by public vote over the following seven days. The winning photographer will receive a Tamron SP 17-50mm F/2.8 Di II XR VC LD Aspherical (IF) in Canon or Nikon mount (Full-frame shooters can request an unstabilized 28-75mm F2.8 instead), making this the first dpreview challenge with a competition prize. Read full story → Reviewed: Sony NEX-5N 16MP mirrorless camera Published on 04 October 2011 00:19:49 GMT Just Posted: Our review of the Sony NEX-5N. The 5N is the second generation of Sony's more enthusiast-focused mirrorless models. It offers the well-respected 16MP APS-C sensor and the option to fit an external electronic viewfinder. Although the bodywork is near indistinguishable from the original NEX-5, the latest model gains a touch-screen interface and in-camera lens correction processing as two of the most obvious of its many changes. We've spent some time getting familiar with the 5N, to see if it delivers on the NEX concept's considerable promise. Read full story → Adobe launches Photoshop Touch Android app as part of cloud strategy Published on 04 October 2011 03:12:13 GMT Adobe has expanded its range of photographic apps - including the launch of Photoshop Touch for the Android platform. The latest app offers a range of selection and editing tools, along with processing effects for images up to 1600 x 1600 pixels. It also supports layers that are retained if you move to the desktop version of Photoshop. There is also close integration with Facebook and Google (including a color and copyright-aware search option) for finding images to edit. An iOS version for the iPad 2 will follow. The app is part of a series of mobile releases that can use the company's 'Creative Cloud' internet-based sharing and storage service that will also integrate with its desktop software. Read full story → Apple announces iPhone 4S with 8MP camera and 1080p video Published on 04 October 2011 18:46:42 GMT Apple has announced its latest iPhone model, featuring an 8MP back-illuminated CMOS sensor. The iPhone 4S features faster image capture (down to 0.5s shot-to-shot time and 1.1 second 'time to first photo'), and captures more light as a result of the new sensor. It also gains 1080p video, is said to have better auto white balance performance and adds face detection for the first time. The 4S will first be available in the US, UK and five other countries on October 14th, with 22 more countries following two weeks later. Read full story → Just posted: Olympus E-PM1 (PEN Mini) preview and video Published on 04 October 2011 20:00:17 GMT Just Posted: Olympus PEN Mini preview and video. Behind the bluster of the latest announcements, the Olympus E-PM1 has started hitting the shelves. In many respects it's pretty similar to the E-PL3 (and it features most of that camera's enhancements over the previous PEN models). It's built around the familiar 12MP sensor, shoots 1080i60 HD video and features an array of Olympus' Art Filters. It stands out in one respect though - it's the least expensive mirrorless interchangeable lens camera we've yet seen (in terms of list price). We're working on a review but, in the meantime, have put together a preview article and video. Read full story → Instagram v2.0.1 adds features and corrects changed filters Published on 04 October 2011 23:30:23 GMT Instagram has updated its image effects/sharing app, adding features and adjusting two filters to look more like their version 1 equivalents. Instagram 2.0.1 offers the chance to add geotags images taken from your photo library or on your phone camera. This information is only kept on on your high-res files, not the shared version. The Earlybird and Brannan filters have also been tweaked to look more like the original versions, in response to user feedback. The update is available for download immediately. Read full story →