I’ve written about how I liked the Molome photo effect app for Nokia N8 Symbian smart phones which allows users to apply vintage effect on their photos. Then, enter the “Camera Lover Pack” — a new app for Nokia smart phones touted by its creator to be having “the most complete and supreme camera app ever seen.”

Not sure how it compared with other apps, especially those for iPhones, but yes indeed it has tonnes of features including “panorama, retro and artistic filters, burst capturing, blending, funny effects and much more.”

The two pictures here were taken with this app, which is available at Nokia’s Ovi Store. I’m still exploring it and may post a full review.

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The Beta version of photo editing software Adobe Lightroom 4 is now available for download from January 10 through March 2012. The software is 411MB for 64-bit Windows, 400MB for the 32-bit version and 409MB for Mac. Adobe says New Features in Lightroom 4 Beta include:

• Highlight and shadow recovery brings out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright highlights.
• Photo book creation with easy-to-use elegant templates.
• Location-based organization lets you find and group images by location, assign locations to images, and display data from GPS-enabled cameras.
• White balance brush to refine and adjust white balance in specific areas of your images.
• Additional local editing controls let you adjust noise reduction and remove moiré in targeted areas of your images.
• Extended video support for organizing, viewing, and making adjustments and edits to video clips.
• Easy video publishing lets you edit and share video clips on Facebook and Flickr®.
• Soft proofing to preview how an image will look when printed with color-managed printers.
• Email directly from Lightroom using the email account of your choice.

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Fujifilm X-Pro1 Macro Samples

by Jaxon S on January 11, 2012

in Camera Raves and Rants

For those of you who are curious about the new Fujifilm X-Pro1, here is a series of nine sample images taken with the camera, three of them are macro pictures. The two photographs, here and here, were taken with the FUJINON LENS XF60mmF2.4 R Macro (90mm equivalent in 35mm term). The other one was taken with the FUJINON LENS XF35mmF1.4 R (50mm equivalent).

[Via 1001Noisy, via RiceHigh]

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Canon GX1 is probably one of the very few compact cameras in which image quality cannot be disputed even way before it hits the market. Its large sensor (for a compact) and the fact that it is a Canon G camera, promise nothing less than that. But why are there people dismissing it as unimpressive (to borrow the word of one of the forum members over at dpreview)?

Why are there people not excited about it? Would the first impression be any different had the mirrorless cameras never been invented? Would there be an all round applause if the lens had been wider and faster and the burst mode firing more rapidly?

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How to Shoot Better Macro Pictures

by Jaxon S on December 19, 2011

in Tips and Tricks

There are many great tips out there from amazing photographers around the world. Here’s one of them, from none other than National Geographic, it’s call “How to Take Macro Pictures” accompanied by macro photographs I wish I had been the one who shot them.

One of the photo tips is this:

Autofocus doesn’t always work well when shooting extreme close-up photography. Switch to manual focus and you’ll get more consistently sharp macro pictures.

Problem with shooting macro, from my experience, is getting the object sharp enough in that very limited depth of field.

The other is, getting a good angle — to shoot the subject from the angle away from the normal point of view.

Another great article about shooting better macro pictures is this series over at dpreview, a must read for those wanting to shoot macro.

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Critically-acclaimed advanced compact camera, Fujifilm X10, is now available in Malaysia at the price of RM2,088 online from Shashinki, Malaysia’s premier online photography retailer. Not sure how much different the price is at the shop but RM2,088 for something as compelling as the X10 is a very good price point indeed.

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Fujifilm X10 In Stock But In Very Limited Supply

by Jaxon S on November 18, 2011

in Promotion

B&H Photovideo, updated its Facebook status a while ago to inform that the hot new item, the large sensor enthusiast compact, Fujifilm X10 is, now back in stock but in very limited supply. It is available at US$599.95.

Fujifilm X10

Not sure until when supply is available though. This is the hottest new product in the market at the moment.

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If you haven’t seen a full size sample of image taken with a medium format camera, or in this case, a Pentax 645D camera, then the best advice this blog can give you is, don’t look at any of them at full size.

So, don’t look at dpreview’s Pentax 645D sample gallery especially at full resolution. Know why? Because some of these images can be mind-blowing.

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The Missing Lens

by Jaxon S on November 13, 2011

in Lens

You know photography is an expensive hobby, right? You think you have bought gears that will last you good years but the next you know, within the next several months of buying one you already want to get a new gear. If you have the war chest, this won’t pose any problem. But if you are an average income earner, it’s safe to say you’d have to deal with all the desire to acquire a new gear.

If you are just staring out, upgrading from a point and shoot to a more sophisticated gear, you could do yourself a favour by starting off with a good lens.

What kind of lens? I would say this, based on my experience: avoid being tempted into buying long zoom lenses because they normally are slow and terrible at telephoto end.

You won’t realise this at first because of the seemingly plausible usefulness of long zoom lenses — they can be an all-purpose lens — but as you progress into your hobby and becoming better experienced, you’d begin to see the dark side of these lenses: they simply couldn’t deliver the kind of image quality you’d expect from them.

These lenses are the kind of gear you would eventually outgrow as time goes by.

For day-to-day shooting, I would recommend starting off with a fast 17-50-ish f2.8 zoom lenses. These are normally good lenses, deliver sharp results and allowing some freedom to control the depth of field which you would find yourself doing a lot as you progress in your hobby.

You will also going to need a fast F1.4 or F1.8 prime lens: either 50mm, 60mm, 85mm or 100mm, preferably macro lens. Some are expensive but others are affordable. Having this lens with you opens up opportunities for macro and portrait photography, something which the 17-50-ish lens is struggling to achieve.

I guess, for beginners, this two-lens setup would suffice. Later of course you can add in more prime and specialty lenses.

… this should have been my lens roadmap; but alas, I was less wiser then. I started off with a 18-250mm, regretted it and bought myself a 17-50mm F2.8, followed by a 100mm F2.8 and a Lensbaby Composer plus Double Glass Optic. If I was wiser then, I wouldn’t have taken that route.

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Beating Blogger’s Block

by Jaxon S on November 12, 2011

in Plant Macro

Can a trigger-happy snap shooter blogger suffer from blogger’s block? You bet he can, especially if blogging is something he does on best effort basis. There are times when he just losses interest in the whole thing, even in taking pictures; which is a funny thing because taking photos is easy in this digital era.

Roots

I guess the key is not to lose the momentum. A blogger should not be absent from blogging for an extended period or else he would find trouble getting back into the rhythm.

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