Times are changing in the world of photography as fast as you can read this line. Canon has finally gotten the message that more megapixels and tiny space is a bad idea with the release of the new G11. They have dropped the megapixels from 12 to 10 which is still plenty big for 99% of the people out there shooting. I still shoot and use an older Nikon 950 2.1 megapixel rig because I LOVE the twist body.  Canon is dropping the count for low noise, finally.. I love pocket cameras but man can they generate the noise at a high (cough).. ISO 400. 

Video is another up and coming tidal wave. With the release of SD video and HD video on small cameras like the D90, Canon 5D MII and even the pocket cameras,  the ability to take a HD video stream and then “cut” out the one single image you want is very close indeed. This has been done for an advertisement using the RED camera and with the same camera, a wedding was recorded and then the stills were taken from the RED’s video stream. Expensive so far but prices are falling. I just walked into a favorite coffee bar and ran into a bunch of Chapman students finishing up a student project shooting with a RED. When the students can afford to rent a RED, it’s getting almost reasonable. My SD800 Canon takes better video than my Sony super duper 8mm or my Canon Mini video cameras. Still, all the video in the world does not make a good still, you still need someone who can compose and take a decent picture. Trees sticking out of persons head in video is still bad imagery, even in HD.

Speaking of video, I bought a itty bitty Kodak “flip” style recorder as a lark for a hundred bucks at target. It shoots “HD” which means that it has the right pixel count even if it’s washed out and a bit coarse compared to a real HD camera. But, for the price, it’s amazingly good. The unit is tiny and light.. the bad news is no image stabilization so the pictures goes all over the place trying to hand hold it but it does have a tripod mount. It uses standard SD flash cards and dumps the video out precompressed and ready to play. If you have a Zi6, then get the firmware update here:

http://tiny.cc/evMEM

When playing MR. Photographer, one has to have a few important items like liability insurance. I carry a million dollars and I just can not understand how someone would take the chance shooting with models, heavy equipment, power cords etc and have someone hurt themselves (real or feigned ) then sue them. The insurance is cheap compared to what you could lose. Same goes for wedding insurance, I also carry that to cover me against the bride-zillas of the world who feel they are entitled to anything they want for free if they complain loud enough. Or if I get hit by a car, or my camera is stolen and so on. Again, it’s so cheap compared to what is at risk you really can not justify not having through someone like the PPA.

http://www.ppa.com/

I love Lightroom, it’s my main “goto” editing tool nowdays with Photoshop doing the heavy lifting as required. There is so much to learn about it that a good reasource to use is at the Photoshopuser site:

http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom2/

Drop by and poke around if you like Lightroom and want to improve your skillset with it.