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A MEMBER OF THE ZATZ MAGAZINE NETWORK |
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June 21, 2004 |
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
The dark side of photo suites
This week's news |
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BUYER BEWARE
The dark side of photo suites
By David Gewirtz
Last week, in introduced you to a nice little program called PhotoRecovery. It came as part of Paint Shop Photo Album 5 Deluxe Edition from JASC, bundled in the little mini-suite. At the end of the article, I mentioned that there was an Upgrade Now button on the product, that seemed to take you to the LC Technology Web site, to order what I thought was the same program already included in the bundle.
"We decry the practice of including out-of-date software with the bundle."
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Apparently, I was wrong. David Zimmerman of LC Technology tells me that the version included in the JASC bundle is version 2.0 of PhotoRecovery, while the version available from the LC Technology Web site is version 3.0 of the product. There are some measurable improvements between the two versions, including:
- An updater that keeps your product up to date with the latest image and file formats
- Custom settings for most camera manufacturers
- Utilities for wiping and formatting media cards
- Utilities for creating image files of your media card for future use
- Additional language support
- More XP looking interface, easier to use
- There's also a Mac OS X 10.1 version of the product available as well.
Now, all of this illustrates both the problems and benefits of the shovelware common in photo suites. Nothing in the JASC documentation for Paint Shop Photo Album 5 Deluxe Edition said the included PhotoRecovery program was an out-of-date product. And, while PhotoRecovery 2.0 did work well enough to get it a 3 out of 5 review rating, it is still an obsolete version, with a far clunkier interface than the currently shipping product.
The fact is, it's still a good deal to buy the suite and get the older version, since PhotoRecovery 2.0 seems to do the promised photo recovery. But you've got to be very, very careful when buying suites -- all that bundled stuff may likely be throwaways from other vendors, or worse, older versions.
Suites and bundles can be great deals for both consumers and developers. The consumer gets a pile of good software for a lower price. The developer of the item being bundled gets either (or both) a nice payment from a larger company and upgrade potential from users. And the publisher of the suite gets a larger product that may give it a competitive advantage and increased perceived value over its competitors.
But while we at Connected Photographer generally find bundles to be benign, if a bit annoying, we decry the practice of including out-of-date software with the bundle. If a developer wants to provide an upgrade path, we recommend some form of feature limitation. But to provide software that's obsolete could potentially put the consumer's system at risk, and we find this unacceptable.
David Gewirtz is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines and the author of The Flexible Enterprise and Lotus Notes Revealed! He can be reached via email at address@hidden. You can see David's photographic artwork at his personal Web site, http://www.Gewirtz.com.
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CONNECTED PHOTOGRAPHER NEWS CENTER
This week's news
Want to get the very latest photography news? The Connected Photographer News Center is updated every day with news of product releases, industry info, tips, techniques, and pointers to great photography resources on the Web. Here's this week's news:
Kodak awards $200,000 in scholarships
Every year, Eastman Kodak Company recognizes Rochester-area students who will pursue careers in a technical field of interest to the company. Applicants must have a B or better average and score at least 1100 on their SAT. Five area students are the winners of Kodak scholarships in 2004. Each student is awarded a total of $40,000.
Death of the darkroom
After 17 years, the Latent Image Workshop, with its 23 rent-by-the-hour darkrooms, will close its doors by the end of the month. As more photographers buy into digital technology, or were forced to adapt by their employers, darkrooms have begun to go dark.
70 megapixel livecam
The Swiss company Roundshot has released the 360° Internet Livecam. The Livecam is a digital 360° camera, capable of 70 megapixels. Livecam uses a high-resolution digicam designed for pro photography, as well as slit-scan technology, which apparently allows for "seamless panoramas" of up to 360°.
Sigma lens update
Sigma announced new versions of the 50 mm F2.8 and 105 mm F2.8 Macro lenses. Both of the new lenses carry the EX DG notation, have improved coatings and a new "Floating Mechanism" to reduce aberrations.
Kodak, AOL part ways
America Online and Eastman Kodak said they will end their partnership on a service for posting and printing photos online, citing declining film sales and a need to focus on their own digital strategies.
Two new FujiFilm digitals
FujiFilm announced the addition of two new ultra-compact models to its line of consumer digital cameras. The new FinePix F440 and F450 combine Fujifilm's trusted image quality with a new signature slim, square metal body featuring a large, 2-inch LCD screen for easy viewing and sharing.
Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED
ePhotoZine has published their review of the new Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED film scanner.
Diji Album v5.0
Xequte announced the release of Diji Album v5.0 today, a major upgrade to their digital photo album creation software. Diji Album allows users to build realistically styled albums from their image and multimedia files and distribute them via e-mail, CD-ROM or the Internet.
PhotoGia for Photoshop
PhotoGia is a set of pre-defined Actions that can now be executed in Photoshop to quickly and easily complete dozens of commands to enhance photographs to professional levels. PhotoGia's Actions can be run according to the type or genre of the digital image being enhanced.
Camerphones make better prints
Prints made from camera-phone images are significantly better than those from single-use cameras, both film and digital, and comparable to those from standalone consumer digital cameras, according to a new study.
Samsung Digimax V5
Samsung Camera has announced the launch of the Digimax V5 five-megapixel digital camera, the latest introduction to the highly successful Digimax V Series range of compact digital cameras. The V5 is one of three new models added to the Samsung Digimax V Series at the start of 2004, and is prices at just $349.
End of compact film cameras
Nikon said on Tuesday that it was boosting its production capacity for a digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, while eyeing an eventual exit from film compact cameras due to sliding demand.
80GB pocket-size hard drive
Kano Technologies has introduced its SureFIRE800, an ultra-small, super-fast external hard drive that fits in your pocket and can store up to 80GB of data. Its high-performance, 5400 RPM 8MB cache hard drives and FireWire 800 data connection, give the SureFIRE800 speeds matching those of drives three times its size.
Final call for submissions
Nikon Instruments announced that June 30, 2004 is the final deadline for submitting entries to the 30th edition of Nikon's International Small World Competition. The competition, open to all microscopists, was created in 1975 to recognize excellence in photography through the microscope and to applaud the efforts of those involved with photomicrography.
NY Times photographers, cameraphones
The New York Times gave four staff photographers Sanyo PM-8200 camera phones and asked them to take photos and discuss how they liked them. Three of the four seemed to like them.
Qimage Version 2004.300
Version 2004.300 of Qimage, the digital imaging application, has been released. The newest version offers print rotation, click/drag on the preview page, a new nudge feature, and bug fixes from version 2004.211.
Zuiko Digital ED150mm F2.0
Originally planned for release in summer 2004, the new Olympus ZUIKO DIGITAL ED150mm F2.0 (35mm camera equivalent: 300mm) lens will now be available in late October 2004.
Coolpix 5400 Firmware 1.4
The new firmware 1.4 release for the Nikon Coolpix 5400 adds RAW file format support as well as higher image quality.
Shooting digital in Iraq
Rob Galbraith's Digital Photography Insights has an interview with Corbis photographer Ben Lowy, who has spent much of the previous year shooting in Iraq.
_expression_ 10000 XL Scanner
The EPSON _expression_ 10000XL is a new A3+ graphic arts scanner featuring high resolution, fast scanning speeds, excellent functionality and advanced networking capability. With a resolution of 2400 dpi and high optical density of 3.8 DMax, the _expression_ 10000XL is the successor to the _expression_ 1640XL.
ASMP Foundation Grant Program
The American Society of Media Photographers Foundation today unveiled plans for a revitalized grant funding program for photographic education. The new grant program is designed to get maximum leverage from the foundation's assets by making a number of smaller awards to assist with educational programs for working professionals and students around the country.
Chameleon paint effects
Zonic has released Chameleon 1.0 for Mac OS X 10.3 to give digital images painterly effects. Chameleon comes with 18 effects, including innovative artistic styles such as Oil Painting, Chalk, Halftone, and Stubble Brush.
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Copyright © 2003, ZATZ:Pure Internet Publishing, a unit of Component Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
Connected Photographer Magazine is an independent publication of ZATZ:Pure Internet Publishing, a unit of Component Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Connected Photographer, Computing Unplugged, the ZATZ name, and the ZATZ logo are trademarks or service marks of ZATZ:Pure Internet Publishing, a unit of Component Enterprises. All other brands and product names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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