Yogyakarta's Gathering & Workshop for Friendship & Photography
Laughter was still occupying the room when participants were about to leave last Saturday's and Sunday's (February 27-28) gathering and workshop venue. Obviously, they were having a good time together on the weekend in the end of February 2010, at the Royal Garden Restaurant and Jogja Plaza Hotel, Yogyakarta.
Though had to drive through the Malioboro Street's and Alun-alun Utara's (Keraton North Square) traffic jam spots, about 90 Canon & FN Gathering Series 2010's participants could finally involve in a discussion with Nofria Donni Fitri, a professional photographer and photography lecturer, on idealism versus commercialism in model photography, also with Adrianus Ardya on his nature photos taken on the area near the Adisucipto Airport (Yogyakarta), which were contributed to the National Geographic Indonesia's publication.
The next morning, at least 130 people were attending Canon & FN Workshop Series 2010. Though it was scheduled to begin at 8:30am (local time), some of them had come an hour earlier. From the beginning, Nicoline Patricia Malina, a fashion photographer who was born in Surabaya and took Fine Arts as her major in Hogeschool voor The Kunsten Utrecht in Netherlands, also being acquainted with the world of modeling, artist make-up and painting, could deliberately attract the participants through her knowledge, experience, way of seeing things, performance, also through her idealistic rule-breaking European-styled photographs.  cindy
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HyperDrive Album: 640-GB Photo Storage & Viewer
In the PMA 2010 at Convention Center (California, US), Sanho Corporation introduced HyperDrive Album, a portable photo backup device designed with the viewing of high resolution photos in mind, for professional and casual digital photographers alike.
With a whooping 640GB storage capacity, it is capable of downloading 2GB per minute with full data verification. It is also the only storage device in the market that can decode and display true RAW images from any camera on its 4.8" high resolution widescreen VGA (800 x 480 pixels), 16 million colors LCD screen. The price is around US$ 599. cameratown.com
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Discussing "Light Architecture" with the Expert
Urs Recher, a photographer and lighting expert who works in Broncolor AG, a well-known lighting company in Switzerland, will be discussing the world he has been dealing with, which has also been put up into a book - the Light Architecture.
Last year, Urs had shared his knowledge in New York, Fort Lauderdale and Dallas, and this month, Prima Imaging invites him to Jakarta to present the same topic through a seminar and workshop entitled "Light Architecture," embracing the "Maximize Your Lighting Creativity" theme. In particular, the discussion will be conducted in the scope of still life and people photography.
To register, please visit www.seminarfotografi.wordpress.com before March 9, 2010, because the seminar will be carried out on March 13, and the workshop on March 14-15 and 17-18.
fotografer.net | Sosro Wijaya, forum.detik.com, openphotographyforums.com
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The Slimmest Water-resistant Compact Camera
By the beginning of this month, Sony's water-resistant compact camera that has been announced at the 2010 PMA show, the Cyber-shot DSC-TX5, is available on the market. Sony claimed it as the world's slimmest compact camera, measuring 1.8cm on its thinnest side. TX5, having a 10.2-MP back-illuminated Exmore R CMOS sensor and 3-inches LCD touchscreen, is waterproof up to 3 meters. It is also designed to be dustproof, cold-proof down to 14°F and shock-resistant for drops of up to 1.5 meters.
The other features are the 4x optical zoom through a wide-angle Carl Zeiss lens (25-112mm equivalent), 8x digital zoom, 720p HD recording, BIONZ processor to enable full resolution continuous burst shooting at up to a blazing 10 fps and Intelligent Sweep Panorama for smooth panoramic images even with moving subjects. Pricing is not yet specified. dpreview.com
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US$ 30,000 for the Best Photos & Layout
"10 Best 10" is an international photography competition organized by Win-initiative, to find ten best photographers in each region of several countries. To be granted the first prize, they will be given a DSLR camera each, to carry out a photography project. The photos of ten best photographers of each region will be put up in each regional magazine. The best photos with the best layout will be chosen and granted US$ 30,000.
No photo categories specified; you just need to register and upload ten photos with any theme to www.tenbestten.com. The submission deadline for the first phase is March 8, and the second is April 30. For further information, please visit www.win-initiative.com or www.tenbestten.com.
fotografer.net | Olivia Irwanto, tenbestten.com
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Touch-Enabled HP's 5 New Cameras & 3 Camcorders
Adding to its growing portfolio of touch-enabled notebooks and desktops, HP features LCD touchscreen displays on five point-and-shoot cameras and three camcorders, together with its intuitive user interface that ensures a better ease-of-use. Moreover, when choosing a scene mode, the display shows two images - how the photo will look in auto mode and in the selected scene mode.
The cameras are the HP CW450t, PW460t, SW450, PW550z and CW450. The first three series feature a 12-MP sensor and 4x optical zoom. The fourth one has 12.2-MP sensor and 5x optical zoom, and the last one has 4x optical zoom. All of them feature a 2.7-inches LCD screen, except the second one; it has a 3-inches LCD screen. The five series are available in different colors and pricing; black and red (US$ 109), pink and charcoal gray (US$ 149), turquoise and red (US$ 129), black and plum (US$ 149), and the last series is available in black and red at a retail price of US$ 99.
The HP V5061u (US$ 169) and V5560u (US$ 199) camcorders feature a 3-inches LCD screen and 1080p HD recording. The second one bears a 5x optical zoom and lithium-ion battery, while the first one a dual SD/SDHC memory card and option to install AA batteries. The last series is the HP V1020h; features a 720p HD recording and is priced at US$ 109. Please visit www.hp.com/personalagain for further information. hp.com
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World Health Day Competition
To mark the commemoration of the World Health Day on April 7, the Ignite Health Group Inc. and AMREP (Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct) Australia has organized a photo competition, denoting a theme named "Urbanization and Women and Children's Health."
20 best photos will be displayed at the World Health Day Forum on April 7 in the Ormond Hall, Moubray St. Prahran, Melbourne, Australia, and the forum participants will finally vote on their favorite photos. The winning photo will earn the photographer AU$ 200. The submission deadline is March 7, and please read the details at www.ignitehealth.org.au.
ignitehealth.org.au, burnet.edu.au
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EOS 5D Mark II Firmware Upgrade for TV Production
To comply with TV production standards of both professional movie producers and aspiring filmmakers alike, Canon has upgraded its EOS 5D Mark II firmware by adding 24p video acquisition and changing the 30p video frame rate to 29.97. In addition, audio capability is enhanced for professional use, adding manual audio level control and increasing the audio sampling frequency to 48KHz from 44.1KHz.
community.the-digital-picture.com
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New Mamiya DM40 with New "DF" Technology
Mamiya announced the addition of the new Mamiya DM40 on March 1 to its lineup of professional large-sensor DSLRs. It features the latest "DF" camera-core technology that combines two shutter systems - leaf and focal plane.
In demanding daylight situations, you can use predictable high speed flash synchronization to fill-in or overpower even the brightest ambient light on one of three new leaf-shuttered lenses designed by Schneider-Kreuznach and manufactured by Mamiya. The lenses -available in focal lengths of 55mm, 80mm and 110mm- deliver an effective maximum flash sync speed of up to 1/1600th of a second. For more conventional situations, you can choose any one of 15 other world-class Mamiya optics, from 28mm to 300mm APO.
Having a 44 x 33mm CCD sensor 40-MP, largest file size of 240 MB 16 bit TIFF, ISO 80-800, 0.8 sec/frame capture rate, digital imaging user interface and 6 x 7cm LCD touchscreen, DM40 is now available in the U.S. at US$ 21,990, including Mamiya 80mm f/2.8 D lens, while the digital back is at US$ 19.990. For further information, please visit www.mamiya.com. pdngearguide.com
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50mm Lens Bears CCTV Lens' Specs
HyperPrime 50mm f/0.95 is Noktor's new lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. This ultra-fast manual focus lens with manual aperture control bears an uncanny resemblance to the Senko 50mm f/0.95 C-mount CCTV lens and shares almost all its vital specifications; beside a 50mm focal length and f/0.95-16 aperture, it features 7 groups and 8 elements lens construction, 60cm closest focus distance, 62mm filter attachment size and 480g weight. However, auto-focus is not available.
This product will start shipping on April 15 at US$ 750. Get the details on www.noktor.com/products.php. dpreview.com
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Photo Competition Grants a Vacation to Bali
 
What if a three-day vacation to Bali is granted to you and your beloved someone? Take the chance! Just send your special photo with someone special, printed with any Canon Selphy Compact Photo Printers, before March 31, 2010. Photos taken with any digital or phone cameras are eligible.
This "Precious & Memorable Moment with Someone Special" photo competition is established by PT Datascrip, and accordingly, PT Datascrip will reserve the right of all winning photos. canon.co.id
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Canon-to-Chile US$ 168,000 Donation
To aid in the relief efforts for the victims of earthquake that hit Chile on February 27, Canon Group is donating 15 million yen, or approximately US$ 168,000, to the Japanese Red Cross Society and other humanitarian aid organizations.
Canon has given its heartfelt condolences to all those affected by the disaster through an official press release and hopes that the recovery, both material and non-material, will be able to begin soon. canon.com
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Large-format Wooden Film Cameras
We had to go pretty far afield at PMA 2010 (California, US) to find one of the more attractive products of the show: large format wooden film cameras from Chinese company Shen Hao. We found the big wooden models all the way in the back of hall E, where they were flying under the Shanghai Seagull Camera banner.
These weren't low-budget Seagull cameras though. Shen Haos are high-quality and hand-made with Black Walnut or Teak woods. The company was showing off about half a dozen models at PMA, ranging from a 4x5-inch folding View Camera (US$ 790) to a 60x170mm non-folding cameras (US$ 1,868).
pdngearguide.com
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Manny Librodo's Workshop in Jakarta 
An English-conducted workshop, the "Ambient Light,"will be held in Jakarta on May 8-9. It will be in Kota Tua, and Batavia café will be the venue of the post-production session. Interestingly, this event will present Manny Librodo, a Philippines-born professional photographer who is now teaching in one of the international schools in Bangkok, Thailand.
In this "Metering the Techniques of Portrait Photography" workshop, Manny will reveal some techniques, such as general workflow, color enhancement, subject pop out and photo mood, along with his photography career gone about at least for four years in some international magazines, like the Digital Photo UK, Digital Camera UK, Mabuhay, Philippines, Digital Photography UK, also in UNICEF.
fotografer.net | Mario Wibowo, pbase.com
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Rolling Equipment Case for Lighting & Photography
Think Tank Photo recently announced the release of the Logistics Manager, its first rolling equipment case for lighting and photographic gear. The rolling case's endless interior layout options adapt to numerous equipment combinations and help manage all of the logistics of transporting and using a lot of gear while on location.
Its roomy internal dimensions of 13.75in x 27.5in x 8.25-10in (35 x 70 x 21-25.5 cm) (WxHxD) allow it to hold multiple combinations of cameras and lenses, lighting gear such as strobes and reflectors, and accessories of all kinds. You need US$ 599 to bring it home. For more information please visit www.thinktankphoto.com.
cameratown.com
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Two Hasselblad's Awards 
Hasselblad Masters Award 2010 has been announced and has invited all professional photographers with any camera brand. There are 11 photo categories available: Fine Art, Nature/Landscape, Social/Wedding, Portrait, Fashion, Editorial, Product, Architecture, General Photography, Up and Coming, and Wildlife. You are allowed to send photos for several categories at a time, before December 31, 2010.
There are two awards competed; the Hasselblad Masters 2010, which is opened for all medium and large format photographers (33mm is not allowed), and the "Up-and-Coming" 2010, which is opened for all photographers with all camera types.
hasselblad.com
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Pentax Adds Ultrazoom & Waterproof Cameras 
Pentax last week unveiled new entries in two of its core product categories with the ultrazoom Optio X90 and waterproof Optio W90, both due in April.
The 12.1-megapixel X90 features a 26x zoom lens, equivalent to a 26-676mm lens in 35mm photography, with a macro mode that focuses down to 1 inch. The maximum aperture is f/2.8 at the widest setting and 5f/5.0 at full telephoto. The X90, priced at US$ 399.95, includes both a 2.7-inch LCD and an electronic viewfinder.
While most waterproof cameras are built to take on either 10-foot or 33-foot depths, the W90 with included carabiner promises to take on 20 feet of water without springing a leak. It is also shockproof to 4 feet and will survive sub-freezing temperatures.
The 12.1-megapixel camera features a 5x lens, equivalent to 28-140mm, and a 2.7-inch widescreen LCD. The camera is priced at US$ 329.95.
Both the X90 and the W90 offer 720p video recording at 30 frames per second, with HDMI output for direct connection to a high-def TV.
digitalcamerainfo.com
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Camera Bags for Mobile Photographers 
Lowepro showed of its brand new professional bag line in PMA 2010: the Pro Runner AW series of backpacks and convertible rollers for on-the-go photographers. Whereas Lowepro's extra durable Pro Trekker line is designed for rough and tumble work in the great outdoors, the Pro Runner AW series is built for street photography; commuter travel with photo gear; and easy stowage on airlines.
There are six models in the Pro Runner AW backpack line with the number indicating the maximum size of the lens it can carry: the 200AW (US$ 89.99); 300AW (US$ 179.99); 350AW (US$ 199.99); 450AW (US$ 249.99); x350AW (US$ 299.99); and x450AW (US$ 379.99).The Pro Runner x350 and x450 backpacks have wheels and easily convert into rolling bags with a spring-loaded trolley handle on top. pdngearguide.com
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Joby's Magnetic Tripod 
At the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) show (February 21-23) in Anaheim, California, Joby introduced a magnetic tripod - the Gorillapod Magnetic. Flexible Gorillapod tripod has magnets in the feet so that it can be anchored to any magnetic surface. It weighs 2.5 ounces and is 6-inches tall, and can bear of up to 11.5 ounces compact or video camera.
Beside Gorillapod, at the same event, Joby also announced the release of Ballhead X that is specially designed for Gorillapod Focus, but can also accommodate both 3/8- and 1/4-inch threads. Constructed from precision-machined anodized aluminum, this ballhead weighs just over 9 ounces and is 3.3-inches tall, and can support 5kg of equipment. joby.com
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