Quick Hit Monday: Fisheye Fisheyes; Canon 60D Thoughts; LR3 Production: and HDR

Good Morning Everybody,

We arrived safe and sound into glittering Las Vegas, Nevada mid Saturday afternoon. We got settled into our hotel and enjoyed a relaxing weekend. My daughter, Elizabeth, is joining us on this trip – only her second time to Vegas and a first to Photoshop World. Only this time she is over 21 - uh oh.

All kidding aside, I wanted to show her around the city and introduce her to the world famous Photoshop World experience. We began the trip with a bang seeing our favorite Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas show "O" [link] on Sunday evening. We spending today making a short day trip over to Valley Of Fire, one of the most unique desserts in the US. I hope I have a few images to post from the visit.

Tomorrow is pre-con day at Photoshop World which means it will be lots of fun. I’m excited for this presentation/workshop because of some of the new techniques I've got planned for the shoot. Reflectors, 7 foot umbrellas, and my new LOVE LightZ.

This week may be a light blog week just because we are so busy with 3 programs, 4 booth demos, and the regular programming. I'll do my best to keep you posted on show happenings and keep up the DPT blog schedule too.

How about we get right to it. Here are a few of my Quick Hits for today.

A Zoomable Fisheye - Are You Kidding Me?

Believe me, I couldn't believe it when I read it either. Most of you know that I'm a big fan of the fisheye lens, but a zoomable fisheye - wow! Canon just announced this lens [link] with all their recent flurry of gear announcements and this one caught my eye.

Here is the deal as best as I can tell. On a full frame camera like the Canon 5D Mark II when zoomed down to 8mm you get a complete circle 180 degree view. I've been taking that same image on my Sigma 8mm fisheye for several years.

But here is the cool thing - zoom it to 15mm and you get a complete full frame 180 degree diagonal view on a full frame camera. It’s sort of like getting two lenses in one. Its not due to ship till January 2011 and will cost in the neighborhood of $1,400.

Hey, it could be worse. Canon's newly announced 400mm F2.8 IS lens is coming in at around $7,100! [link] I think this zoom fisheye really looks interesting. I can't wait to get my hands on it. Once again, here is the link to the complete story right here.

How About Canon's New 60D Camera?

I've been working on the CBTL tour this week and have been under water news-wise for most of last week. But, you can always catch up on the latest and greatest gear announcements at Über gear blogger, 1001 Noisy Cameras [link].  1001 must have spy microphones everywhere to come up with all the info his blog generates!

Anyway, I wanted to see what was up with the new camera and headed over to 1001's site right here. If you are thinking of selecting this camera, before to you make your purchase check out 1001's post. It is the “go to” Canon 60D post because of all the other links to blogs reporting on this camera.

My first impression is that the camera might be better suited for the video shooter. Yes, HD video is built in as well as an adjustable microphone - interesting. The camera is a bit more plastic, not a good thing, but does have a swivel viewfinder - a good thing for the video shooter.

It's rated up to ISO 12,800 but is definitely noisy at that range. Supposedly it has a chip similar to the 7D and T2i which means it should be useable up to ISO 1600 or even 3200 with a little LR3 thrown in.

The deal breaker for me is the fact that, just like the T2i, no external sync connection. I just don't get why Canon did that. It just neuters the convenience of using off-camera flash and there are no easy work arounds if you want to use off-camera and on- camera flash simultaneously.

Don't get me wrong, the video aspects of the camera look to be the latest greatest with the swivel finder and all the added elements. So, maybe for me it works as a high end vacation camera, just not as a second camera in my gear bag, that is until I amp up my video shooting. I think that's where the 60D will find it's best fit.

Lightroom Post Production - The 10 Best Steps To Great Looking Images

One of my favorite Lightroom folks to follow is Victoria Brampton, the Lightroom Queen [link]. She just completed her latest Lightroom 3 book, “Lightroom 3, The Missing FAQs”. She really knows her stuff, always has some cool Lightroom tips and tricks, and points you to other solid content Lightroom posts.

In one of her tweets, she pointed to a great post  at the NY Times Gadgetwise blog entitled, "Ten Photo-Editing Tips From a Pro" [link]. As I read through it, I'm thinking that's a lot of what I do - hey, maybe that's why I like the post so much - because they're doing it, as Ol' Blue Eyes would say, "my way" ;~)

Hey, all kidding aside, this post really shows an intelligent step-by-step process to obtain better images. Here is the link right here.

One Of The Best HDR Tutorials I've Seen

I think I found this post somewhat by accident during my GoGo Inflight Internet surfing at 30,000 feet on the way to Las Vegas on Saturday. StuckInCustoms.com [link] is a fascinating blog by Trey Ratcliff for the traveling photographer.

I landed on the front page of the site and then began to explore the site a bit more. In the right hand column was a link to this HDR tutorial [link]. If you are an HDR junkie, you probably know all this stuff.

Hit Trey’s site anyway and check out his beautiful HDR images. But, if you are like me, and only dabble in the dark sciences of HDR infrequently, this is a good post on the subject. Once again, here is the link.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We are heading out to the Valley Of Fire for the day. We've packed a wedding gown with us and have talked my daughter, Elizabeth, into being my model for a few hours. My gosh, my daughter in a wedding gown - that's a scary thought ;~)

Oh. one last thing – LaDawn still needs volunteers for our CBTL tour especially in the earliest scheduled venues of Phoenix and Houston. You won’t miss a minute of the presentation. At the end of the evening, I’m buying the soft drinks or beers for any of the volunteers that want to stick around! E-Mail her at LaDawn@ziser.com and she’ll give you all the details.

Anyway, I'm going to run. Tomorrow is Pre-Con day but I'm still panning to get a Technique Tuesday up and on the air.

Hope to see everybody tomorrow,

David