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New Nikon D600 camera goes on sale, price £1950

The new Nikon D600 camera goes on sale this week at a  price of £1950 in most retailers. The camera fits in between the D3200 and the D800 in the Nikon range, with a 24 megapixel sensor.

The Nikon D600 DSLR is fairly similar to the D800 — including a weather- and dust-resistant magnesium alloy build, fast Exspeed III processor, and AF that works down to f/8 ,  all contained in a body that is a full 15 percent lighter than the D800.

Nikon is also emphasising the fact that the D600 handles wireless transfers and triggers using the new WU-1b widget, which is identical to the familiar WU-1a  on the D3200 except that it plugs into the camera’s USB port rather than the HDMI port. There’s an Android app to allow your mobile device to communicate with the camera, and an iOS app is out by the end of September.

Nikon’s newly developed 24.3-megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor delivers outstanding levels of detail and tonal range, even in low light situations.

From true wide-angle to super telephoto, the 14-bit A/D conversion and excellent signal-to-noise ratio enable images of remarkable quality with low noise and wide dynamic range even at high ISO sensitivities.

Offering an ISO range of 100–6400, extendable up to 25,600 (equivalent) and down to 50 (equivalent), low light capability is superb. The camera’s intelligent noise reduction systems manage noise without sacrificing fine details, allowing superb flexibility under all lighting conditions: images are crisp and clean, even at higher ISO settings.

EXPEED 3 image processing 
Equipped with the same state-of-the-art EXPEED 3 image-processing engine as Nikon’s flagship D4, the Nikon D600 makes light work of data-rich tasks without sacrificing speed and quality.

16-bit image processing offers richer colours and tones than ever before, delivering smooth gradations with abundant detail and tone all the way up the scale to pure white, even when shooting in JPEG.

Highly sensitive autofocus system
The Nikon D600 enables superior subject acquisition in most lighting conditions thanks to Nikon’s newly developed Multi-CAM4800 39-point AF system that boasts AF sensitivity inherited from the flagship D4.

A full-frame sensor is equivalent in size to a frame of 35mm film. Larger sensors are better for two main reasons: they potentially allow for larger photosites (light receptors) per pixel for a given resolution, and provide more creative flexibility with respect to depth of field at a given focal length. Larger photosites mean better light sensitivity, which usually means higher-quality photos.

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HDR screensavers , tools for creating HDR photos

Eilean Donan Castle 314 screensaver
Eilean Donan Castle HDR screensaver

HDR photography is great way of getting a new perspective on what you can do with your own images . There are many ways of creating HDR photos , including Photomatix and and Photoshop . Photomatix is still the best tool for making HDR pictures as far as I am concerned . I used it to make my first HDR screensaver . I have just started trying out HDR PhotoStudio2 from Unified Color. The basic interface has a limited number of options compared to Photomatix .Unified Color has announced that HDR PhotoStudio, its High Dynamic Range software package formerly available only on the Windows platform, is now available for the Mac. The software is compatible with Intel systems running Leopard and Snow Leopard and requires at least a 2.5GHz dual core system with 2GB of RAM (4GB is recommended). HDR PhotoStudio gives photographers control over the colors within an image, a tool set that helps them address the effects of merging multiple exposures, and an improved workflow, the company says.
“In response to requests from photographers, we are excited to introduce HDR PhotoStudio to the Mac faithful,” said Alfred Zee, CEO of Unified Color Technologies. “With HDR PhotoStudio, Mac users can finally produce full-color HDR images that they envision, without concern that their dynamic range or colors will be clipped or shifted by applications constrained by traditional narrow gamut color models. With our technology, photographers can unlock the full color spectrum while preserving a realistic look and feel to their images.” HDR PhotoStudio’s 32-bit floating-point technology and Beyond RGB color space is designed to accurately depict and edit all the colors the human visual system can recognize. While the current evolution of HDR photography has often been characterized by oversaturated and unnatural-looking images, the makers of HDR PhotoStudio say their software enables photographers to provide a more true-to-life look for their HDR images. “Most other offerings are forced to reduce image quality to bring an HDR photo into a color range it can manage, often losing image data and clipping the full scope of colors in the process. While the current evolution of HDR photography has been dominated by oversaturated and unnatural-looking images, mainly due to these software limitations, HDR PhotoStudio enables photographers to unlock their complete photographic vision,” the company explained. The program’s tools aim to address some common difficulties in HDR photography. These include a halo reduction slider to fight the haloing problem of HDR images; a patented HDR noise reduction technique; the Veiling Glare adjustment designed to cut down on image haze from compounding lens glare; a Color Tone Equalizer which allows simultaneous management of saturation in six basic color channels; and a customizable recipe button to save macros. HDR PhotoStudio supports Unified Color’s native BEF file format which enables efficient HDR image compression, so photographers can easily manage and archive the large files, according to the company. The package includes a BEF-converting Photoshop plug-in, which enables the final HDR image to be applied to a Photoshop project. The program also supports RAW files from all the major camera manufacturers as well as TIFF, JPEG, BMP, and OpenEXR formats.
Available for immediate download via the company’s Web site, the Mac version of HDR PhotoStudio is being offered for an introductory price of $100 throughout the month of February. After that, the price goes up to its regular $150.

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Eilean Donan Castle pictures at night screensaver

Eilean Donan Castle pictures at night 31456
Eilean Donan Castle at night , HDR photo

Eilean Donan Castle is one of my favourite castles in Scotland , mainly because of the stunning location and ample photo opportunities .  My picture of the castle at night is an HDR photo which is now available as a screensaver. The castle can be photographed from 3 sides . Eilean Donan means Island of Donan ( a religious figure from the 12 th century ). Eilean Donan was Clan MacKenzie’s most important stronghold from the 13th Century until it was destroyed in 1719 by 3 English frigates attacking the Spanish garrison .

Robert the Bruce was given refuge in Eilean Donan Castle by John MacKenzie, Second of Kintail when he was being hunted by the English at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Above the entrance to the castle there is a Gaelic inscription which translates as : As long as there is a MacRae inside, there will never be a Fraser outside. Inside the courtyard is the famous Murchison Stone with an inscription about John Murchison of Auchtertyre who was killed in the Battle of Sherrifmuir in 1715. In the upper floor inside the castle there are six bedrooms named Loch Alsh,Loch Long, Eilean Donan, Ballimore, Loch Duich and Conchra. There is also a panel with the names of the constables ( guardians ) of the castle carved on it.
Eilean Donan Castle was originally built in 1220 and owned by the MacKenzies of Kintail. The MacRae Clan who settled in the area came from the Beauly Firth where they had protected the Clan Fraser.They acted as bodyguards to the MacKenzie chiefs. Although there was a number of disputes, the MacKenzies held Eilean Donan right up until until the 16th century. The MacRaes first became Constables of the Castle in 1511 with a lot of control over the surrounding area. A feud between the MacKenzies and the McLeods of Dunvegan, over the disputed claims of Donald Gorm MacDonald to the title of Lord of the Isles, came to a head when he attacked the Castle with 50 galleys. He was shot and killed by Duncan MacRae with a single arrow. The Castle was garrisoned by Government troops but later retaken by the Jacobites before the Battle of Sheriffmuir.

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HDR Landscapes picture gallery

Eilean Donan Castle
Eilean Donan Castle

I have just added a new HDR landscapes gallery to the website . HDR means High Dynamic Range . This is an image created from a set of 3 pictures which combines the contrast levels and the range of tones into one image . HDR images are great fun to make and they can  turn out in a number of different ways depending on how you process the images . I use Photomatix software to create HDR images , although some photographers prefer to use Photoshop . The first step is to combine the 3 pictures . You then use tone mapping to process the image into an HDR picture . I have been using Photomatix for a couple of years and it is an excellent program. A couple of months ago I bought the HDRI Handbook by Christian Bloch and it gives a very comprehensive guide to the software you can use and the different approaches of a selection of photographers . It mentions Artizen software which I have downloaded but I haven’t had a chance to use it yet . The pictures I have teken are in the Highlands around Blackmount and Glencoe . HDR landscapes