Questionable Copyright Court Ruling

An English court has ruled that in favor of a commercial poster company that argued that a photo that showed a similar (but different) scene taken by a different person in a different place nevertheless infringed the copyright of a poster.

While it seems likely that the person making the second image was directly copying the “cut-out” concept of the first (by making the bus red in an otherwise monochrome image), this ruling could get really messy. Check out the post here: Insane Eglish Copyright Ruling Creates Ownership of Idea in Photo Composition.

We need reasonable copyright protection for photographers, artists, authors and other content creators, but if individual cases are adjudicated poorly it will simply provide more fodder for those wishing to weaken copyright laws.

A New Website

Well, I finally did it – I finally put up a blog at my old domain. The site is located at http://www.daleallyn.com and is intended as a place to collect and share topics on tech, business, giving, etc. I’ll still maintain this site, of course, but I’ve not wanted to mix other topics here, so decided to launch the new one. I’m still tying up some loose-ends there, and will be adding content regularly, so please drop by, leave a comment, etc.

Here’s a link to the site. You can grab the RSS feed on the home page there.

Charis Wilson, Edward Weston’s Model and Muse, Dies at 95

Edward Weston’s model, and later partner, Charis Wilson, has passed away at the age of 95 in Santa Cruz, California. A wonderful biography of their relationship is available in the documentary video The Eloquent Nude. The New York Times has posted a story today.

Phase One Releases Capture One Pro: Verson 5

Capture One Pro is arguably one of the best RAW image processors available, and today Phase One has released a major update: Capture One 5. Capture One supports not only Phase One’s medium format backs (for free) but also many other camera makes and models for the none-too-cheap price of US$399 (€299). Capture One is not known for its workflow or library features, though many pro users do prefer it’s workflow to others such as Adobe Lightroom or Bridge, etc., it’s generally recognized for its RAW file conversion quality and tethered shooting features. Some features in Capture One are remarkably simple and clean to use, while others can be a little confusing, but the output from this software is typically among the best for many camera models.

You may have to wait for the smoke to clear a bit, as the Phase One servers are a little choked today.

Adobe Releases Lightroom 3 Beta

Adobe has released for imediate download, Lightroom 3 public beta. It is expected that the version update will ship in April of 2010, but this beta will give users a taste of what’s to come. According to reports, Adobe is reworking the RAW conversion engine, which is good news for Lightroom users. Image Quality of RAW conversions is probably the single most frequent complaint of Lightroom… well, maybe second to the lack of softproofing. Adobe has tweaked the print tools in this beta version 3, so it is hoped that Adobe will surprise users with softproofing capabilities in the shipping version next spring. Alas, the beta doesn’t have a softproofing feature. “State-of-the-art noise reduction” is listed as one of the updated features, which should help to wrangle those high ISO images if one doesn’t wish to use a third-party noise reduction tool such as NIK Dfine or Noise Ninja.

You can download the Lightroom 3 beta here. It’s a free download. There’s a “First Look” preview of the beta at The Luminous Landscape, in which Michael Reichmann sheds some light on the upcoming version features.

I’m not a Lightroom user, but I’m happy to see this version upgrade coming for those who are. Users of the beta can provide feedback to Adobe via the Lightroom forums.

Canon Unveils New Series One Camera: EOS-1D Mark IV

For some time now there have been rumors of the new model 1D Mark IV and its sibling, the 1Ds Mark IV, but today Canon have officially announced the new EOS-1D Mark IV digital camera body. With impressive specs, this APS-H sensor body (1.3x crop factor over full-frame 35mm) boasts approximately 10 frames per second; 45 auto-focus points with 39 cross-type, and any one of them can be selected manually; Digic 4 processor; full-HD movie capability; and a huge ISO range. Check out the specs on Canon’s site for the whole skinny.

The Imaging Resource has posted some details which explain some of the features as well. And the Canon press release is available here.

This adds interest to the anticipated update of the EOS-1Ds Mark IV, Canon’s flagship model. The Canon EOS-1D Mark IV goes on sale from late December, 2009.

Inventors of the CCD Image Sensor Awarded Nobel Prize

It was announced today that the co-inventors of the CCD image sensor technology were awarded a share in the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics. Williard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, of Bell Labratories, U.S.A., are the inventors of the technology that has contributed to so many fields including medicine, research, photography and even the success of on-line social networks by giving us a way to capture images digitally. The announcement, as published on DPreview, includes a photo of the inventors with their early camera.

Phase One Announces New Medium Format Camera Body

Phase One has announced a new camera body, the 645DF, which accepts their medium format digital backs and Mamiya-mount lenses. The development of this camera body has been rumored, and then leaked, but timing of an official announcement and it’s ship dates have been unknown. I’m anxious to see what improvements over the predecessor, the Phase One/Mamiya AFD III, are designed into this new body.

During the same press release, Phase One has also announced a cooperative collaboration arrangement with Schneider Kreuznach (of “Schneider Optics” fame) and Mamiya Digital Imaging, Ltd. Phase One is said to be a majority stakeholder in Mamiya since late last year. This collaboration is expected to contribute to the development of more quality optics for the Phase One/Mamiya cameras.

Of special interest to pros shooting with strobes is the additional announcement of the long-awaited leaf shutter lenses for the Phase One/Mamiya system – a result of the above mentioned collaboration. These new lenses with the new body will provide a sync speed of 1/1600th of a second – the highest in the industry. Focal lengths are 55mm, 80mm and 110mm. The new lenses are expected to ship in the fourth quarter of this year and can be ordered now.

How Could This Happen to Annie Leibovitz?

New York Magazine has published a long article on Annie Leibovitz which seems to clarify some of the details of Annie’s unfortunate difficulties over the past couple of years, as well as some more insight into the famed artist’s life. There have been many articles and blog posts published on Lebovitz’s woes, some of which have seemed accusatory or taken some other assumptive position. The New York Magazine article linked here seems to be a bit more fair, which is likely due in part to the fact that time has passed allowing information to be vetted a bit more. And of course, the sheer length of the article provides more opportunity for additional details.

People spoke of a fabled “contract for life” from Condé Nast, thought to bring her as much as $5 million annually.”

It’s not particularly rare for us to see celebrity-status artists experience financial difficulties, with blame going to the thought that financial management skills don’t often accompany artistic skills and talent. Whether or not that theory applies in the case of Annie Lebovitz is not clear, but it has been rumored that at least part of her investments were affected by the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. If this is true, I think that some of the accusations or judgement of her bad money handling ought to be tempered a bit.

As it turns out, Annie Lebovitz is not the only high-profile photographer suffering financial difficulties. The celebrity photographer team of Markus Klinko and Indrani have apparently filed for bankrupcy. The Wall Street Journal has also posted a piece regarding the Klinko and Indrani Chapter 11 filing.

Attitudes towards this type of news varies, depending on one’s perception of the facts (or non-facts) as they’re published. I always assume that I don’t know all of the details and am better off not judging (or at least trying not to judge), but hope the best for them and those affected by such drastic financial problems. Those who have provided goods or services to the ones in trouble often suffer greatly from the losses as well. That can really hurt a small company or individual who is waiting for payment.