Digital SLR Blog

The Frame 1.0 software by Kate Labs predominantly tests out digital cameras and lenses. Available for both Mac and Windows platforms, the software offers a graphical user interface and command line prompt.

Supported Test Charts

- ColorChecker
- ColorChecker SG
- ColorChecker Gray Scale
- ColorChecker White Balance
- ISO 12233
- Kodak Q-13 and Q-14 Gray Scale
- Kodak Q-13 and Q-14 Color Separation
- Kodak Q-60 Gray Scale
- Kodak Q-60 Color Separation





 

ACDSee™ Pro 3 is now available open for beta testing by photographers all over the world. ACD Systems International Inc. wants professional photographers from all over to participate in the best testing. Beta downloads are available at http://www.acdseepro.com.

“Every new feature in ACDSee Pro 3 is geared around saving time and making a photographer’s workflow process customizable,” said Cam Carmichael, product manager for ACD Systems. “Beta test participants will see a uniquely flexible image processing mode that helps photographers streamline and speed up the work involved in perfecting and preparing their photos for publication.”

Nik Software is offering free and interactive live-webinars, which offer training in all Nik Software products as well as special topics. The trainings are in English and German language and highlight all software products developed by Nik Software, including plug-ins Dfine®, Viveza™, Color Efex Pro™, Silver Efex Pro™ and Sharpener Pro™ as well as Nikons® Capture NX 2. One can register here.



 

ACD Systems International has started beta testing for its new ACDSee™ Pro Photo Manager for Mac. Beta downloads of ACDSee Pro for Mac are available at http://www.acdsee.com/proformac and the first release will focus on  fundamentals of browsing, viewing, organizing and printing images. ACDSee Pro for Mac will be available for a free 30-day trial and for purchase at $169.99 (USD).

DxO Labs recently announced the availability of 3 new DxO optical correction modules, which now extend DxO Optic Pro’s range to include over 1,200 modules covering all types of lenses and brands.  Also to celebrate DxO Optics Pro’s 5th birthday, DxO Labs offers a 25% discount for the entire month of May. For more information, visit DxO Labs website at http://www.dxo.com
 

Maperture Pro from Übermind a geotagging plug-in for Apple Aperture 2.  The latest version includes features like; importing Tracklog data from a wide-array of GPS devices; altitude (Z-axis) tagging; support for reverse geocoding and options for customizable keywords. Maperture Pro can be downloaded for $39.95.

The Canon Live Learning is a new on-site education program targeted at new or prospective Canon EOS users. Canon Live Learning (CLL) will offer classes and workshops conducted by leading professional photographers and will consist of two distinct educational opportunities: EOS Essentials and EOS Extras. Potential participants can go here to register.

The Canon Live Learning is a new on-site education program targeted at new or prospective Canon EOS users. Canon Live Learning (CLL) will offer classes and workshops conducted by leading professional photographers and will consist of two distinct educational opportunities: EOS Essentials and EOS Extras. Potential participants can go here to register.

The PhotoPlus X3 Digital Studio is a new digital photo editing software by Serif. The software includes features such as High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging, Raw Photo Studio and 48-bit dynamic color and the on board Black and White Studio offers control over the mood and style of grayscale images. PhotoPlus X3 will retail at $79.99.

Step OK Image Lab has updated their Turbo Photo image editor. Version 6.5 features an updated 4th-generation noise reduction algorithm for enhanced performance and also fixes known bugs. Turbo Photo is available for Windows and can be purchased for $59, which includes lifetime free upgrades.

Qimage 2009.250, which is professional photographic printing software for PC/Windows, now has a number of new features. The updated version tweaks the UI, includes a new feature called "menu cheater" that allows direct access to dozens of commonly used functions and also  allows one to choose their own workflow.

Version 3.9.5 of the Raw Photo Processor is now available for download. The Raw Photo Processor is a Mac OS X raw file converter and now includes support for three new digital cameras and also fixes a number of known bugs.

Roxio has announced the Roxio PhotoShow® Touch for Windows 7-based systems. The software lets one create and share slideshows using simple finger gestures to directly manipulate objects on screen. PhotoShow Touch is expected to be available shortly on PCs from major manufacturers.

The latest update to Phase One Capture One 4 is now available for download. Capture One 4.8 supports the new Phase One P 40+ and the Olympus E-620 and includes Image quality improvements include: enhancements for the Phase One P 65+, the Leica D-LUX 4. For more information please go to http://www.phaseone.com/4.

Panoweaver 6.00 Professional and Panoweaver 6.00 Batch are now available for download courtesy Easypano. For the uninitiated Panoweaver lets one stitch panoramas automatically and Panoweaver 6.00 supports cylindrical panorama stitching. Main features of Panoweaver 6.00:

Support automatic stitching and manual stitching
Recognize the lens type automatically
Stitch spherical panoramas from fisheye photos
Stitch cylindrical panoramas from single-row/multiple-rows of photos
Support creating HDR panoramas

Pricing:

Panoweaver 6.00 Professional: US$499.95 / 499.95€
Upgrade to Panoweaver 6.00 Professional from 5.00 Professional: US$200.00 / 200.00€
Panoweaver 6.00 Batch: US$999.95 / 899.95€

Aperture 2.1.3 is now available for download to Mac users. The new version “improves overall stability and provides fixes for issues related to database integrity and compatibility with specific file types."

Fixes include:

• Nikon images imported directly from a camera now display thumbnails correctly in the Import window.

• Fixed an issue that could cause unwanted duplicate image versions to be created after rebuilding a library or after importing projects. These duplicate versions appear in the Browser as gray boxes or square thumbnails and show a Pixel Size of "0 x 0" in the Metadata panel. The word "(null)" may appear in the name of these versions. If your Aperture Library contains these duplicate versions, you may be able to eliminate them by rebuilding your library after updating to Aperture 2.1.3. To rebuild an Aperture Library, hold down the Option and Command keys while opening Aperture, then click the Rebuild Now button. If rebuilding the Aperture Library does not remove these unwanted duplicate versions, you can manually delete them.

• Addressed a library issue that prevented the operation of the Relocate and Consolidate commands in some circumstances. This situation could occur if you renamed images using the Relocate Masters command, and then subsequently rebuilt your Aperture Library. If you are unable to Relocate or Consolidate Masters, you may be able to remedy the issue by rebuilding your Aperture Library using Aperture 2.1.3, as described above.
 

Version 2.5 of the BatchPhoto software is now available courtesy Bits&Coffee SRL. The Windows based application makes it easy to annotate, touch up, transform, apply effects, convert and rename hundreds of pictures in a single operation. The latest version now has the Raw Photo Development feature where one can save the raw image data as read by the optical sensor without any loss or additional processing.

Ginpic for Windows is an application that can beutilized to find pictures, photos and images for projects or other personal usage. With Ginipic one can search multiple sources with a single click and use search results in with a simple drag & drop. Ginpic  requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.

Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro is now compatible with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and higher. All current owners of Silver Efex Pro for Photoshop or owners of the Complete Collection for Photoshop are eligible to receive this brand new software update for free by registering their product.
 

Phase One has released a new version of the Capture One software. Capture One 4.7 allows adjustment of both JPEG and TIFF files and introduces a new enhanced image package file format. Here are the features in details:


The Enhanced Image Package (.eip file extension) permits packaging of a Phase One RAW image file together with the adjustment settings applied to the RAW file.


Support for JPEG and TIFF files as ‘Input’ Files.

Added tethered capture support (Pro and DB versions)
Canon 5D Mark II
Nikon D3X

For more information go to www.phaseone.com.

Nikon Capture NX 2.0 and 2.1.1 users will soon be able to download the Capture NX 2.2 application for free. The updated version improves overall compatibility, addsthe  Axial Color Aberration Correction feature, increases batch processing speed and adds support for the NRW format. For more information go here.

AKVIS Sketch v.8.6 for Windows and Macintosh is now available for download. The new version improves the way a photo is converted into a watercolor and fixes a number of bugs. It also improves plugin compatibility on Windows and adds support of 32 bit images. For more information go to http://akvis.com/en/sketch/index.php and upgrade for registered users is free.

The newly announced Corel Painter 11 application now includes support for Wacom Intuos4. Pressure-sensitive brushes, inventive drawing tools and customizable media makes Corel Painter 11 one of the most popular imaging software’s out there. To learn more about Corel Painter 11 or to download a free, full-featured trial version, please visithttp://www.corel.com/painter.

The Iridient RAW Developer 1.8.3 for the Mac OS is now available for download. The update adds RAW support for the Olympus E-620, Canon SX1 IS, and Casio EX-FH20 and also adds support for 3FR and FFF format files produced by recent Hasselblad backs and from Phocus software conversions. It also fixes a number of bugs and more for more information on this release go here.

The ACDSee Picture Frame Manager seeks to simplify the usage experience of digital picture frame owners. Available for both Mac and PC users, the picture Frame Manager allows effortless management of digital frame images in just a few simple steps:


• Picture Frame Manager connects the computer with any removable memory device such as a picture frame, SD card, USB drive or other portable display that mounts as a mass storage device.
•Once connected, drag-and-drop features make loading, moving, changing or deleting images a snap.

• To increase memory capacity, the software optimizes images for frames of any size or resolution, even for today's high-definition television screens. Because each image is set to the correct resolution for each frame, up to 10 times the amount of images can be stored and displayed.

• Picture Frame Manager makes waiting for photos to display a thing of the past. All types of decodable image files, including TIF, GIF, PNG and RAW-format files from today's DSLR cameras, are converted automatically to JPEG format, ensuring smooth, professional transitions every time.

• Users can manage multiple frames at the same time and save settings for each frame.

Order it online for US$39.99.

Imagenomic has announced the availability of Portraiture 2 for Aperture. The plug-in claims to fit seamlessly into Aperture digital image management, editing and output and now includes features like; Automatic Skin Tones Mask generation and “One-click” skin retouching, Advanced Skin Masking controls and Enhancement sliders and settings. Portraiture 2 for Aperture can be purchased for  $199.95 (SRP).

Nik Software announced the availability of the Color Efex Pro 3.0 photographic filter. The update has been released for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and higher and is free to current owners of Color Efex Pro 3.0. For more product information including video lessons visit: http://www.niksoftware.com/colorefexpro

Digital Light & Color have released the latest upgrade of Picture Window Pro. Picture Window 5.0 includes new editing features like  Color Remap for changing selected colors and 2 and 3 Zone transformations, which lets you divide images by their tonality range. The upgrade now also includes a Raw Converter and a host of new automation and batch processing features.

Version 5 of the Picture Information Extractor (PIE) application is now available for download. The update incorporates new features like unicode support and XMP and IPTC metadata, which means editing of metadata, is now possible even in some RAW formats such as Adobe DNG. A free evaluation version of PIE 5.0 can be downloaded from the Picmeta Website and for more information go to http://www.picmeta.com/products/picture-information-extractor.htm

FotoInsight recently announced the version 4.5 of FotoInsight Designer for Mac and Linux systems. The photo book application integrates with Flickr, Facebook, Picasa and geotagging site “locr” and they become an online interface for photo book building with family and friends. The new version also features new photo book formats and features like fading frames and festive templates.