Adobe Lightroom V1

So it finally arrives (sort of), Adobes Lightroom is now released. V1 on the face doesn’t look too much different from the 4.1 beta. The first thing that is noticeable is the speed. The old 4.1 beta was a little sluggish in it’s operation. Ask it to do a relatively moderate task and it would give you the spinning beachball of death. Though this could be due to me using a MacMini 1.66 ghz Core Duo.

Is it a Photoshop replacement? No, more of a compliment to Photoshop. The main use for Lightroom is as a library. Images can be stored and referenced through metadata and keywords. This I guess is valuable for the pro tog. For me it’ll save me from having to remember dates and locations. But LR is more than just a library. The final release has expanded on the develop side of the application. The options for changing the image are very familiar to anyone that has used Adobe Camera Raw. Colour, sharpness, lens etc are all included within the package. Also the final release has included a spot removal tool. Though i’ve yet to fully test this.

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Photography day off

No, not a day to avoid photography but a day of driving/walking/shooting!.

Decided that Friday (just gone) was one of these days. Couldn’t be bothered to turn in to my customers. To be honest it’s been very quiet on site and I could do with the rest. So I took a trip to the source of my water.

Elan Valley, mid Wales. Weather promised to be crap, turned out quite good really. A good mixture of Cloud/Sun/Wind.


Visited all 4 Dams, but went for a walk around the last one. Very nice day because no one was around. I had the whole hill to myself.
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Canon Eos 1D Mark III

Todays news!

Quite a decent upgrade, 10mp from 8.2, 10fps from 8.5. Burst mode 110 jpg 30 raw images. Digic III processing, 3inch screen and Live LCD view.

Retail price should be around the same as current 1D Mark IIn (RRP)price.

Canon have also upgraded the 580 Speedlite to the 580II and a new 16-35mm f/2.8 II.

PMA in vegas is the place to get your hands on the new goods.

Nothing else announced today. Seems the 1D(expensive one)/5D/30D upgrade will be along in September. Though I’d expect the 1D and 30D to be upgraded then. Personally cant see Canon upgrading 3 bodies in one go.

News items stolen from the Canon USA Website.

Canon EF1.4x Extender.

After a month or two with this extender I feel qualified enough to write a small review.

Overall very pleased with this extender. Currently i can only use it with my EF70-200 f/4. It drops a stop down to f/5.6 but it the lens is still very usable at this aperture.

This shot:

was taken in the rain on an Eos 5D EF70-200 f/5.6 1/320 iso 500 Focal length was 280mm.

I’ve found since purchase it tends to stay on my 70-200mm as I find the extra focal length better than losing it at the wider end. It compliments my existing 24-105 f/4 L IS as the wide end is 98mm. It should come in handy when I eventually purchase the 300mm f/4 L IS
Conclusion:

Superb accessory. No noticable loss of quality, a relatively low(ish) cost your get an extra .4 of a lens.