Photography:
- 2007 was the year the digital SLR boomed, reports CNET’s Stephen Shankland, offering links to top stories throughout the year. He notes that "Adobe released Photoshop Lightroom in March, and in just a few months it surpassed in popularity the earlier Apple rival, Aperture."
- Serious photogs keep seeking a nice compromise between SLR quality & compact portability. A number of folks around Adobe’s West 10th floor have been intrigued by the Canon G9; see Ben Long’s review.
- Meanwhile a megapixel backlash seems to be building steam. "The more pixels, the worse the image!" says a German camera-testing lab, arguing that splitting a compact sensor into smaller & smaller bits is bad juju.
- In terms of the craft itself (which keeps proving itself death-proof), Rob Galbraith rounds up a large group of pictures of the year collections. The sheer number of galleries is a little daunting (paradox of choice, anyone?), but I can at least vouch for MSNBC & Canada Post galleries. I find the little NatGeo gallery underwhelming.
Adobe:
- The company was so busy (Creative Suite 3, Lightroom, new CEO…), it’s hard to believe that it was just in ’07 that so much went down. Fortunately Scott Kelby provides a thorough overview.
- Zeroing in just on Photoshop Lightroom, Scott’s colleague Matt Kloskowski offers A look back at Lightroom in 2007, recalling the year’s interviews, cool add-ons, and more.
Design:
- The architectural smartasses at Curbed have gathered up the Top 10 Craziest Architectural Renderings of the Year. Each one links to funny, wry commentary ("Rise, massive shadow-inducing cantilever, rise!"). Aside: Who knew a W Hotel was going into Harlem?
- One of my favorite blogs (frequently pilfered here), Core77, looks back at What Happened in ’07. Herewith I’m gonna need all my pizza laser-cut, stat.
I’ve been seeking a ‘compact compromise’ myself for the times when I don’t wish to carry a 10 Kilo bag of kit around, and recently purchased the G9 my only issue with it is that the IQ is not as good as my old 10D, let alone my current 30D – now obviously that’s a no brainer, but it does fall in line with what they are saying on 6mpixel, at 6mega pixels (instead of 12) the G9 IQ would probably be closer to that of my 10D – which I only replaced because it became irrepairably damage not because it became obsolete.
Canada Post?
It should read: National Post
(Canada Post is the name of our Post Office here in Canada)
Yes, indeed. The G9 is a great portable, possibly pocketable (large pockets), RAW device. The overall combination of features, size, capabilities for me makes it the best choice around. Now, there are things I would improve. The optical viewfinder, less megapixels/less noise, a bigger aperture. Still, for something you can take with you more or less everywhere, it’s great.