Are you someone who is desperate for Photoshop but can’t afford to pay the hefty price tag? Don’t worry, if you have been looking longingly at your computer and hoping that a photo and graphics editing program will somehow magically appear, you may just have found the solution. Gimp is an open source program that has an amazing amount of functionality considering that it is completely free. It does take a bit of time to learn how it works but once you do it is an absolutely invaluable tool, and also used by event photographers and industry professionals alike.

Here is a quick introduction to some of the basic tools in Gimp.

Fuzzy Select & Colour Select:  You can use these tools to quickly select and edit certain parts of images. If there are certain colours that you want to change or parts that you want to cut out then you can use these tools to make the relevant selections as opposed to doing a freehand select which is much more time consuming.

Colour Picker: This is a great tool that allows you to add some colour continuity to your graphics and images. Select the colour picker tool and click on the colour in your image that you want to duplicate. It will store that colour for you and allow you to use it again for text and backgrounds.

Crop: This is a simple little tool that does exactly what it says; it crops images, layers and sections of layers.

Transform Tools: The transform tools are made up of flip, rotate, sheer, perspective and scale. These tools are very helpful when you are positioning text or images on to a flyer or piece of artwork. You can re-scale your layers and pasted sections to get them to the right size for your overall image and you can change the perspective of certain element too.

CloneTool: This is a really useful tool if you are editing images of people. If there are spots or other blemishes that you want to get rid of then select your clone tool and hover over a section of skin that is perfect. Press Ctrl + C and the clone tool will store a copy of that piece of skin as a paintbrush. You then click on the spot or problem area and the clone tool will use the clone it has just taken to cover over the blemish.

Smudge:  This is another great tool for photo editing. Again, if there are areas of skin of that look blotchy you can use the smudge tool to blend the good skin with the bad and smooth it out a little. This tool is better for covering larger areas than the cone tool which can only do one small spot at a time.

Gimp can be used for many purposes and will greatly aid your creative graphic design . Whether you are editing family pictures or designing a flyer for your latest event Gimp will not let you down!

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve needed a solid compact camera as a technology reviewer and consumer for quite a while now and being who I am (not an avid photographer), I’ve been putting it on and off and on and off just waiting for the perfect product to come out at the perfect price. Alas however it never really came, so a short while ago I jumped ship and got myself down to the local hardware store to take a look and play around with the latest digital camera’s on offer. I’d read quite a few reviews of camera’s prior to checking out camera’s in the flesh and hot on my list we’re the Panasonic Lumix TZ20, the Casio EX-H30 and what I chose on the day, the Fujifilm F500 EXR.

Now stand out features are obvious; 16 megapixel sensor, 1cm Macro Mode, 1080p video, 15x optical zoom and HDMI out all wrapped up in a rather pocketable and sleek package, but what I wanted was a performer with more walk than talk. Did I make the right choice with this camera then? Read on.

Design, ease of use

All digital camera’s need to look good in the compact market, as none of them have truly exceptional image quality over the other. Standing out, then, is helped when manufacturers do away with the bog standard boring rectangle and think a little bit differently, which is exactly what they did with the F500 EXR. Available in four different colours being black (what I have), white, red and blue, Fujifilm wants to appeal to a wide variety of tastes with the F500. My choice of black was made purely down to it looking more professional than the other options available, with red looking somewhat cheap sat next to the white and black version in-store.

Out of the box you get a basic quick start manual, with the rest on a supplied CD ROM. This also includes the usual basic software, FinePix Studio for Windows PCs and FinePix Viewer for Macs.

Materials wise the camera is built up from matte black aluminium and glossy black plastics, the plastics of which naturally acquire fingerprints over time. The aluminium on the camera adds a bit of welcome weight to the camera, weighing in at xxx with battery inside, whilst the glossy plastics add a bit of sparkle to a design that would otherwise be a little bit bland. All access to ports are covered with glossy plastic, whilst the battery and SD card tray is matte plastic. On the port covering side, and the parts that protect the ports are on the lower end of the quality scale, feeling a little bit flimsy sometimes but never so much one would think they’d break.

On the plus side however, the controls for the F500 EXR are all excellent and well weighted, offering a good level of tactile feedback with a good quality sound to them when selected. On the front of the camera Fujitsu has given us a handy rubberized hand-grip which is useful for difficult positions whilst shooting stills or video, and on the front right of the camera is a window for the self-timer/AF assist lamp.

Towards the back of the camera you’ll find a 3-inch wide view 460k-dot resolution LCD, which is vibrant and excellent for use even in bright sunlight. The F500 EXR does not have a viewfinder, however I don’t find them useful for my photography anyway.

Image quality

The F500 shoots in the following modes; SP – Natural Light, Natural Light & with Flash, Portrait, Portrait enhancer, Dog, Cat, Landscape, Sport, Night, Night (Tripod), Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Underwater, Party, Flower, Text. MODE DIAL -EXR, P, S, A, M, SP, Adv, AUTO. I myself  use the P setting mode for shooting almost all scenes which is Auto however with the user setting the ISO setting.

Overall I’m extremely pleased with the F500′s image quality. Across the board, the camera performs excellently and at ISO 100, ISO 200 and ISO 400 the camera produces decent images with quality starting to soften slightly only at ISO 800. Moving to higher ISO, and this camera has proved itself excellent for night time shots under extreme dark darkness of which you can see an example below the first image of a day time shot under medium light.

When it comes to shutter speed the F500 appears to peform really well, with on paper a shutter speed of (Auto mode) 1/4sec. to 1/2000sec and all other modes 8sec. to 1/2000sec. In my tests, I haven’t missed a shot yet. I also found with the F500 that the auto white balance feature works really well too, whilst the 15x optical zoom is brilliant for closing in on subjects.

Outdoor daytime shot, ISO 100

Night shot, ISO 800, no flash

One of the main features which attracted me to this camera was the 1cm Macro Mode, ideal for photographing products whilst not having to chug around my DSLR. On this front, the camera performs excellently with flash on and with flash off, and adjusting the ISO manually I was able to get some decent shots of my iPhone 4 and some dust on the top of my LED TV.

Macro shot, ISO 400

Macro flash, ISO 400

An interesting shooting mode I enjoyed was ‘cat’, which amuzingly uses face recognition to focus on a cats face. This option is decent and produces good overall results, but for one shot I turned the image quality to normal as opposed to ‘fine’, the highest setting, to portray this camera at its worst (below).

Indoor, ISO 800 'Cat' mode - Cat's name is Patch

As you can see from the image, at ISO 800 the image quality of this camera drops quite a lot and the image above of my kitten, patch, is fairly soft. To the camera’s aid though the lighting was not great with a 50% split between artificial and natural. For optimum image quality, you’ll be fine between ISO 100 – ISO 400 with auto white balance on.

Video quality

The F500 records video in full 1080p HD definition and also 1280 x 720 pixels / 640 x 480 pixels (30 frames / sec.) with stereo sound. When it comes to recording clips, I’ve found that the camera performs well outdoors in decent lighting however not so good indoors in a darkish room. In other words whilst the camera’s still shots have lots of settings for the perfect shot, the video recording doesn’t and sadly it refuses to adapt to any situation.

Another problem with the video function on this camera is that whilst you can zoom in and out mid-video, the camera refuses to re-focus on a subject when zoomed and you’ll have to zoom back out to get definition back. This is fine for interviews, unboxing videos, but not so great for anything else even though the quality is good.

This was a big let down for me with this camera as having a decent video function along with decent stills is pretty essential.

*Video coming very soon.

Price

In a high street retail store the F500 can be picked up for just under £200, at around £199.95 depending on where you go. If however you have no real word reason to support local businesses, you can pick it up cheaper online through various e-commerce outlets.

Overall

Overall I’m pleased with the F500. It’s design stands out, it is easy to use, features a CMOS sensor for night shots, a 15x optical zoom for closing in on subjects and it’s available for under £200. Competition wise, the only camera that comes close to this is the Lumiz TZ20, however I think this camera tips it for its Macro mode and aesthetics. Improvement wise, the camera could do with less megapixels rather than more due to it losing quality at higher ISO. All in all though this is a good compact  for everday usage, even if a full manual mode would suit others more than gimmicks such as sepia.

Rating: 7 out of 5 stars (7/10).

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

Do you own a 3DTV but have just a standard 1080i HD point and shoot digital camera? Well then you are missing out, but that’s where Panasonic comes in with their new DMC-3D1 featuring two 25-100mm optical zoom lenses (30-120mm in 3D mode), which pump images to dual 12.1 megapixel sensors and will allow for some seriously neat family video’s. Now whilst this camera is 3D, it also allows for regular still capture and normal HD video recording, making it as versatile for photography as it is pocketable. Full PR below.

PANASONIC ANNOUNCES COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERA CAPABLE OF SHOOTING 3D PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

New LUMIX 3D1 Digital Camera Features Twin-Lens Design for 3D Images, or to Shoot Video and Still Photos Simultaneously

SECAUCUS, NJ (November 7, 2011) – Panasonic today announced the LUMIX DMC-3D1, a cutting-edge digital camera that employs two newly-developed lens units with folded optics design in a stunningly compact body that can capture crisp and clear 3D and 2D photos and videos. The LUMIX 3D1, with a twin-lens design, features 25mm ultra-wide angle lenses with 4x optical zoom that offer the outstanding capability to record high resolution 8-megapixel 3D photo and 1920×1080 60i high quality 3D HD video using side-by-side method. The LUMIX 3D1′s optics give users a wider range of composition possibilities with approximately 169% larger viewing space compared to that of 35mm cameras.

Featuring a unique shooting option, the new twin-lens system allows the LUMIX 3D1 to capture 2D images and video simultaneously. The LUMIX 3D1 can shoot 12-megapixel 2D photos and record 1920x1080i full HD 2D videos. In conventional standard digital compact cameras, users must shoot in either photo or video mode and when photo mode is selected, video recording is interrupted. The twin-lens design of the LUMIX 3D1 breaks through these conventional barriers with two separate mechanisms for image capturing, allowing for dual shooting capabilities. Additionally, the two-lens design allows users to record photo or video in different angles of view simultaneously. For example, users can record an entire party scene with one lens while zooming in on and capturing the photo of a specific person with another lens. Users can easily switch between 2D and 3D mode with the dedicated 2D/3D switch conveniently located on the back of the camera.

“Panasonic continues to lead the industry in 3D entertainment, giving consumers the opportunity to create their own content and then view it within their homes, and the new LUMIX 3D1 is an innovative digital camera that excels with its 3D imaging technologies, but also offers outstanding 2D photo capture options,” said Darin Pepple, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “With its twin-lens design, the LUMIX 3D1 can even shoot HD video through one lens and 2D photos from the other – thus getting still and moving content simultaneously, a unique shooting feature which Panasonic provides so users can stretch their creativity.”

The 12-megapixel High Sensitivity MOS sensor and the Venus Engine allow the LUMIX 3D1 to achieve high-quality images and easily process image sensitivity and speed. Multi-process Noise Reduction applies optimal noise reduction according to the brightness of different areas of an image, thus creating crisp and beautiful photos and videos. Both high frequency noise that occurs in the dark area, and low frequency noise in the light are of a photo are suppressed even though occurring simultaneously in a photo. As a result, images recorded in low-light situations are dramatically clear, even when recorded at a high ISO setting.

The LUMIX 3D1 boasts extremely fast consecutive shots at 8 fps (without auto focusing) and 4 fps (with auto focusing) in full resolution. Utilizing quad-CPUs the Venus Engine processes large amounts of 1920x1080i Full-HD data at high speeds in either AVCHD or MP4 formats. Although using two sets of lens units and sensors, energy consumption of Venus Engine stays minimized to maintain the camera’s battery life for as long as that of a single lens compact digital camera.

Though the LUMIX 3D1 utilizes advanced functions to shoot exciting 3D and 2D content, it is easy enough for anyone to shoot beautiful 2D photo and videos using iA (Intelligent Auto) mode. iA mode combines a suite of functions to help users achieve the perfect shots, including: MEGA O.I.S, AF Tracking, Intelligent Scene Selector, Face Recognition and Intelligent ISO Control, Intelligent Exposure and Intelligent Handheld Nightshot, which generates beautiful night scenery with illumination by layering multiple images shot consecutively, allowing bright, glamorous night scenery to be recorded without using a tripod. The LUMIX 3D1 features a large 3.5-inch Smart Touch screen on the camera’s back which allows users to easily move through camera functions and recorded photos and videos.

The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-3D1 will be available in December 2011 for a suggested retail price of $499.99. For more information, please visit www.panasonic.com/lumix.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

As a photography fan a new Panasonic Lumix is a pretty neat occasion. For anybody clued in to digital photography and Panasonic cameras specifically, you’ll know that the company released a number of brand new lenses a couple of months ago. Now, then, it would appear that Panasonic is prepping a brand new camera to go with them, in the name of the GX1 Micro Four Thirds camera, aimed at replacing the current generation of GF camera such as the GF1, GF2 and GF3. The images themselves surfaced on Mobile01 forums of the new as of yet unannounced camera, but specifications are hazy at the minute. In any case, you can expect this camera to offer some serious performance in a compact-ish form, and from what we can see one heck of a side grip.

As an avid photography fan, whom loves cameras and a wide range of photography as well as thermal imaging, the GX1 certainly looks right up my street from what’s on show above. What do you think?

Source: Mobile01

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

It is not uncommon for manufacturers of electronic goods to release newer versions of popular models. This does not automatically mean though that the newer version is always significantly better. Sure there’s always something new and different to set apart the new from the old, but if you compare their features and factor in the cost to upgrade your gadget, would it really be worth it?

When it comes to upgrading your compact camera from the popular Panasonic Lumix TZ10 to the newer TZ20, is there really enough reason to justify having to shell out another £240 or so? Quite frankly, the answer is yes. While a quick glance at the TZ10 and the TZ20 will just about convince you that there is no significant improvement from the former to the latter, the truth is that the TZ20’s looks is deceiving. Granted that Panasonic did nothing much in to change the way the TZ20 looks, aside from putting the Movie Record Button at the top surface of the camera, it is actually loaded with features that will surely make you want to toss out your old TZ10 in the trash bin.

If the Lumix TZ10 impressed you with its 12x optical zoom power, the Panasonic Lumix TZ20 Digital Camera makes it pale in comparison with it staggering 16x optical zoom. Not only does it leave the TZ10 in the dust with the optical zoom, but its Intelligent Zoom is equally unbelievable at up to 21x, compared to the 16x Intelligent Zoom function of the TZ10. In terms of resolution, the TZ20 again wins over the TZ10 with a 14.1-megapixel lens, which is only 12.1-megapixels for the TZ10.

Both camera models do record movies in HD, but TZ20 ones up the TZ10 in that it can record movies in FULL HD. The TZ10 can record HD movies at 1280 x 720p, while the TZ20 can record Full HD movies at 1920 x 1080 (50i). What’s even more impressive with the TZ20 is perhaps the ability to shoot the HD movies (1280 x 720 pixels) at 30fps, which brings us to another advantage of the TZ20 over the TZ10, which is speed.

The TZ20’s MOS sensor and Venus Engine processor makes the camera able to shoot and process signals more speedily, so that focusing is a lot faster. With the TZ20’s Sonic Speed AutoFocus, the TZ20 can snap photos 49% faster than the TZ10, allowing shooting of still images at 10fps in full 14.1-megapixel resolution and up to 60fps in 3.5-megapixel resolution. High-speed movie recording in the TZ20 is also unparalleled with the camera able to capture movies at 220 fps in QVGA size (320 x 420 pixels).

With all the advantages of the TZ20 over the TZ10 that was mentioned above, it is quite clear that there really is no question about whether an upgrade is worth it or not, especially since there are still other advantages that we did not even care to mention, such as the 3D Photo Mode and a 3-inch LCD touchscreen.

This has been a guest post by price comparison site Electronics Price which finds the cheapest Digital Cameras.

Image credit: ephotozine

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

Ricoh hasn’t attempted to tackle the waterproof camera market until now and in that time Fujifilm, Samsung and Olympus have all had their stab at the market, producing pretty good offerings for the wide consumer audience. This, then, marks Ricoh’s first attempt in to the waterproof compact camera market and so you’d hope this camera was pretty good. Well is it? Read on, friends.

Pro’s - Solid build, good aesthetics, cheap

Con’s - Poor image quality, low quality LCD, not shock proof

Specifications

Review: Design, build

Compact digital camera’s are becoming increasingly premium in build and even cameras which are under £100 are made from aluminium or similar materials now unlike 3 years ago, where you’d be lucky to get a bit of chrome plastic trim. The good news here then is that the Ricoh PX has a solid build, and is made from durable aluminium which argue if you like, feels fantastic in the hand and makes this camera feel more expensive than it really is. From looking at this aluminium totting camera, though, you’d be hard pressed to find anything which makes it look different to regular compact digital cameras, but it is. Waterproof is the aim of game here, and the only way of telling this camera is designed to be waterproof (apart from the sticker which says ‘waterproof’ on the left side front of the camera) is the fact that the camera lense does not protrude from the case but is rather recessed, with watertight glass protecting it.

You can make up your own minds as to whether or not you like the design of this camera, however to me it feels a little bit bland, which is why Ricoh ships cases out for it which are available in pink, yellow, blue, brown and white. We were shipped out the black version of this camera which is probably aimed at the more professional person, however it is also available in silver and lime green. So, then, the Ricoh PX follows the same form factor as many compact digital camera’s out there however it isn’t the nicest to look at, nor is it thinnest, measuring in at 100 mm x 55 mm x 21.3 mm. All things said and done though the Ricoh PX does feel good in the hand and weighing in at 156 g also makes it easy to carry.

Around the back of the Ricoh PX sits the 2.7 inch LCD screen and your flash toggle, menu button’s and video mode. Moving on to the LCD, and it is one of the worst I have seen on a digital camera in a while, offering up washed out colours at the best of times and it is also not very usable in outdoor conditions / bright sunlight.

Shock Proofness

In a test we didn’t record or picture (it was a quick drop test), we dropped the Ricoh PX from hip height which resulted in the outer lense glass covering to smash, rendering the camera unusable and also not water tight. This we feel is a bit of a freak accident, as videos on Youtube suggest the camera can take more abuse than that.

Image quality, performance

Let’s get straight to the point; the Ricoh PX has fairly average image quality. The problem with this camera for me was that is failed to overcome image noise at all ISO sensitivities, and taking pictures in good natural light had its problems caused by a poor show for white balancing, with a graininess to the image and a whole lotta’ softness despite my best efforts to take a perfect shot. Indoors things started to get worse, and some of the images I took were very saturated for this review. To give you an example as to how inconsistent some of the Ricoh PX’s images are sometimes, see below an image taken by the iPhone 4 and Ricoh PX (top image iPhone 4, bottom Ricoh PX).

As you can tell from the image above the Ricoh PX has troubles with white balance, a key indicator of this being the sky in which the clouds are non existent in the Ricoh PX image. This isn’t to say that a camera phone is better than the Ricoh, however it proves to be more consistent with shots across the board.

Despite the above in wideangle mode things start to get a little bit better for the Ricoh PX, and images start to look of a higher quality although the Auto White Balance system can be more than just a little bit inconsistent at times. Colour wise this camera produces them pretty well, overcoming some of the problems this camera faces in real life situations put down to softness. Overall I can think of a dozen waterproof cameras with a better image quality than the Ricoh PX, and you’ll be wanting to go here for those.

Okay, but is it waterproof?

One of the main selling points of this camera is naturally going to be it’s water tightness, so we made a test for the camera where we dropped the Ricoh PX in to a sink of water whilst it was on, to see if it would hold its own. According to Ricoh, the PX with waterproof up to 3 meters. In the test, the camera stayed water tight and came out fully functional.

Pricing

The Ricoh PX can be picked up from around £179.99, which is pretty cheap if you take in to account the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TF3, which costs around £300. We do have to stress though that the Ricoh PX is no stellar camera, with image quality not being the greatest we’ve ever seen.

Verdict

Oh Ricoh you almost had me going for a little bit. Despite a good build quality and aesthetically pleasing design, the Ricoh PX falls short in its primary function; being a camera. Taking pictures becomes hit and miss at the best of times with this camera, and you’ll need some serious photo editing software to make the PX’s grainy and soft snaps worthy of a folder on your desktop. On top of this, the price of this camera makes it not the cheapest on the market (which it should be judging its performance) and it is also not freeze proof or crush proof unlike competitors. If you want our advice as to whether you should get this camera then here it is – for a well built waterproof camera this device will certainly appeal to you at the price point it is at, however for image quality you’ll be wanting to look elsewhere.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (5/10)

(i’m a bellend who doesn’t pay the people who write for him)

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

I love Leica cameras. This isn’t because I own one, because I simply couldn’t justify the expense, it is simply because in the camera world they are the equivalent of the Patek Phillipe of the watch world. With news then that the most expensive camera in the world sold for $1,900,000 (and was a Leica O-series) we’re going to talk about Leica’s brand new addition to their line up, the M9-P,which certainly looks amazing.

If you are familiar with the Lecia M9 series you’ll have noted already that the familiar red Leica logo and M9 lettering aren’t on this edition of the M9, however Leica have decided to add a virtually unbreakable sapphire crystal covering on the LCD, produced using diamond cutting tools, and an anti-reflective coating for usage in all conditions. In terms of performance, the Leica M9-P will ship with an 18 megapixel, full-frame 24 x 36mm sensor and have a 80-2500 ISO range, 1/4000 of a second shutter speed. Price wise you are looking at $7,995 at the beginning next month, and it’ll be available in black or chrome.

Leica camera’s, whilst often heralded as a fashion statement and also some models being put in shelves as collectors items, are excellent for a wide range of different photo shoots within photography, including furniture photography.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

You can’t admit you wouldn’t want one of Hasselblad’s H4D cameras. The latest addition to this line of cameras, the H4D-200MS, is, well, a bit different to most point-and-shoot cameras and even top of the range DSLR’s. The device in question will make a rather large jump from the 50 megapixel H4D-50MS, and will ship with a whole 200 mega-pixel’s of goodness. I’m sure you’ll want to know the price so i’m just going to get straight to it and cough it out.

For the full kit the price of this beast rolls in at a *cough* $45,000 *cough*. Don’t feel neglected if you have an older model though, because Hasselblad will give you the upgrade to your sensor for about $10,000, meaning older generation users will still be able to go out on photography trips and not feel ‘small’. Saying that the all-new 200MS combines 6 photos together to create a pretty hefty 200-megapixel photo. If you don’t want to stay in the studio for the rest of your life, there’s a 50 megapixel single-shot mode for snappy-shots aswell.

Mmmmm, expensive……..

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.