David LaChapelle, "Earth Laughs in Flowers," at Fred Torres Collaborations

7pm – 9pm  |  Artist Talk: Dana Lixenberg
Where: School at ICP, 1114 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

Thu Feb 23, 2012

1pm – 2:30pm  |  Webinar: Color Grading Advanced Techniques
Where: http://www.filmmakingwebinars.com/webinars/color-grading-advanced-techniques/

5:30pm – 7:30pm  |  Workshop: Conquering YouTube – Video Power to the People
Where: Adorama, 42 W 18th St, 5th Floor, New York, NY

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: David LaChapelle, “Earth Laughs in Flowers”
Where: Fred Torres Collaborations, 527 W 29th Street, New York, NY 10001

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: Jonas Mekas & Robert Polidori, “Portraits”
Where: Edwynn Houk Gallery, 745 Fifth avenue, New York, NY

Marcia Hafif, "Pomona Houses," at Newman Popiashvili Gallery

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: Marcia Hafif, “Pomona Houses and Ink Drawings”
Where: Newman Popiashvili Gallery, 504 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: Matthew Pillsbury, “City Stages”
Where: Bonni Benrubi Gallery, 41 E 57 street, floor 13, New York, NY

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: Melanie Willhide, “to Adrian Rodriguez with love”
Where: Von Lintel Gallery, 520 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: Mona Kuhn, “Bordeaux Series”
Where: Flowers Gallery NY, 529 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011

Tim Hyde, "The Island: Prologue," at Meulensteen

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: Tim Hyde, “The Island: Prologue”
Where: Meulensteen, 511 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011

7pm – 10pm  |  Opening: Leslie Walsh, “City Zen”
Where: Hudson River Club, 505 W 37th St, New York, NY

Fri Feb 24, 2012

5pm – 7pm  |  Opening: Daryl-Ann Saunders, “Pioneers of Bushwick: We Call It Home”
Where: Diana Jones Center, 9 Noll Street, Brooklyn, NY

6pm – 8pm   |  Opening: Paul Graham, “THE PRESENT”
Where: The Pace Gallery, 545 W.22nd St. New York, NY 10001

Sat Feb 25, 2012

11am – 2pm  |  Workshop: Street Photography (Part 4 of 4)
Where: 3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11237

Tue Feb 28, 2012

5:30pm – 7:30pm  |  Workshop: The Canon EOS Flash System In-depth
Where: Adorama, 42 W 18th St, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011

7pm – 10pm  |  Opening: Miyuki Kubara, “Inner Sun”
Where: Ouchi Gallery, 170 Tillary street, suite 507, Brooklyn, NY

Wed Feb 29, 2012

1pm – 2:30pm  |  Webinar: Storytelling Techniques For Marketing, Corporate and IndieFilmmakers
Where: http://www.filmmakingwebinars.com/webinars/storytelling-techniques-for-marketing- corporate-and-indie-filmmakers/

5:30pm – 7:30pm  |  Workshop: The Canon EOS Flash System – In-depth
Where: Adorama, 42 W 18th St, New York, NY

6:30pm – 9:30pm  |  Networking: Adhesive NYC
Where: SWEET & VICIOUS, 5 Spring Street, New York, NY

7pm – 9pm  |  Artist Talk: Thorsten Brinkmann
Where: School at ICP, 1114 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

The Lensbaby Edge 80 Optic

At the Adorama News Desk, Lensbaby delivers a sweet Valentine’s Day gift to portrait shooters with an 80mm f/2.8 tilt shift lens.

On the Techniques and How-Tos blog, Joe McNally explains how he solved a challenging color scenario with the new Nikon D4; Mark Wallace shows how to deal with Moiré patterns in your photos in post; Tamara Lackey releases the second part of her interview with Wedding Photographer Doug Gordon.

On the Gear Guides and Reviews blog, Mark reviews the large sensor prosumer camcorder from Sony, the NEX-VG10; Diane Miller reviews Adobe Photoshop Elements 10; and Mark reviews B&W Binary, a high-contrast black-and-white conversion app for iPad.

The Nikon D800

On the Techniques and How-Tos blog, Kevin Kubota explains how to freeze action for a rock band photo; and Jay Miles reviews some necessary video tips for aspiring YouTube filmmakers.

On this blog, Through The Looking Glass, Nikon announces its long-awaited D700 successor, the D800, which packs a whopping 36 megapixels, and is available in a version without the anti-aliasing filter, for super sharp images; Olympus pays homage to its legacy with the Micro Four Thirds flagship, the OM-D E-M5; Sigma lops the price tag many times on its SD1 flagship, putting it on par with more prosumer models, and perhaps enticing a broader audience; two versions of the Sh*t ____ say meme finally tackle the often ludicrous filmmaking world, with Sh*t Filmmakers Say; and, as always, we list the week’s photo events throughout New York.

On Tech Tock, Mason Resnick recaps the whirlwind week of photo industry news coming out of CP+, including many major camera announcements; and he gets his hands Olympus’ new mirrorless flagship, the Retro OMD-EM5; Sandy Ramirez discusses the welcome revival of the Sigma DP series APS-C sensor compacts, the DP1M and DP2M; and Laurel McConnell explains why you should go to WPPI.

On the Gear Guides and Reviews blog, Mason reviews the fast lens compact Olympus XZ-1; Mark reviews the Canon VIXIA XA10 Professional Camcorder; and he reviews the Photographers i for the iPad photo magazine app.

At the Adorama News Desk, there are lots of big announcements. Starting off, Nikon announces its D800, a 36.3MP Full Frame camera with many of the features borrowed from the D4 (full spec sheet here); Canon adds three new-generation USM lenses to its lineup; Sigma announces its DP1M and DP2M APS-C fixed lens compacts, which now remarkably share the sensor from the SD1; Olympus revives the OM with a retro-styled Micro Four Thirds beauty, the OM-D E-M5; Sony, Canon and Panasonic update their compact lines; and Pentax revealed its extremely rugged compact, the WG-2.

The unique sensor technology, which adherents swear adds a more film-like, organic quality to photos, was nevertheless not, samples showed, in medium format territory. And the rather pedestrian specs beyond the sensor had no hope of capturing adherents to the well-oiled machines of the high-end DSLR market or the niche devotees of Leica.

And so it was, that the blogosphere exploded into one loud derisive slam session as the SD1 was announced, followed by equally derisive silence as the SD1 made its way into the market. Sigma, following the untimely death of its founder last week, seems to have gotten the message. Today, it announced a rebranded ‘SD1 Merrill’ (after the inventor of the Foveon sensor) at a much more down-to-earth price point, which should run at $2,299 street.

This is a wise move from Sigma. Suddenly this camera, which was a flop yesterday, could have legs, as it competes in the much larger market segment in the upper prosumer/pro category. Time will tell if its too late for this camera, or whether the dramatic price plunge will jump start sales, especially among Sigma lovers, who didn’t have $10k lying around last May. Hopefully they held off on a second mortgage in anticipation of this day.

This second video from Sundance serves as a nice parallel, with the discomfort-inducing emphasis on the shameless self-promoter archetype, one who is immediately recognizable to anyone with even a passing familiarity with this oversaturated and hypercompetitive market. We can all recognize the character with a thin resume but a perplexing lack of humility.

Via No Film School.

*Update: Our friend Mason Resnick has a hands on over at the Adorama Learning Center*

With camera makers hellbent on filling out their product lines in the new Compact System Cameras category (or whatever it’s called at the moment), Olympus just announced another long-rumored camera inspired by its storied history, the OM-D E-M5. This is the new flagship Micro Four Thirds camera from the manufacturer, landing at $1,000 body only, which will most likely operate above the PEN line. Embroiled in its current debacle, it’s nice to see that Olympus can still churn out innovative and exciting cameras at regular intervals, as evidenced by this svelte little contender.

Ho-hum features

The OM-D E-M5 has a nice cadre of by-now expected features baked in, as well as a few new technologies that make the package especially compelling as a unique snowflake in the crowded market. On the pleasant but pedestrian front, the build quality has been upped with magnesium alloy chassis and weather sealing. Size-wise it’s on par with its direct competition, notably the NEX-7. The camera sports a built-in 1.44 million dot viewfinder, as well as 3″ vertically tilting OLED touchscreen. It also promises jaw-dropping ISO range for a Micro Four Thirds camera: up to 25,600. The video is pretty well spec’d, though inexplicably has no 24p recording option. Uhhhh, what? There are certain things that should just come standard, especially in the now-ubiquitous video arena, and this is one of them.

Strangely, Olympus is still investing time developing silly art filters for its serious cameras. Is anyone using these? Scratch that, I met a working photographer at an opening recently using a PEN’s B&W filters, so that’s one. They looked pretty good, to be fair. I guess filters are something you hate until you break down and try them (as evidenced by my downward slide into Instagram addiction).

Standout features

Now, onto the potential game changers. The camera addresses some of the failings of the PEN system, most notably its aging sensor, now replaced with a 16MP sensor similar to the one found in the Panasonic G3. Perhaps the most headslappingly simple but obvious touch that most mirrorless cameras inexplicably lack is a front and rear control dial. This feature, standard on enthusiast-and-up DSLRs, has evaded most mirrorless entrants. Only the Sony NEX-7, which I admit to be courting for Valentine’s Day, seems to get that you can pack an awful lot of direct access control into a small body, perhaps offering the best ergonomic experience of any current camera on the market, and certainly among its mirrorless brethren. The E-M5 has gotten the hint, with the aforementioned control dials but also no less than three well-placed and endlessly programmable function buttons. Another headline feature is an innovative new image stabilization system that reacts to the camera shake on five planes in space (which I think is just about all of them).

One handsome devil

Aesthetics have long been a strong point for Olympus, and this camera is a beaut, with retro stylings that are just dorky enough for the camera dorks, like me, who get sweaty palms for boxy cameras the look like they should be paired with a DeLorean. It sports a stout, angular design which simultaneously feels impish and playful, with lines that lean slightly outward like a circus tent and an unapologetically tall viewfinder bulge that looks like a top hat. This is not just for effect: stacked on top of the EVF is an accessory port, and on that is the hotshoe, leaving plenty of options for peripherals.

The final word…for now

The E-M5 feels inspired and perfectly spec’d for its price point. While not utterly groundbreaking, it’s a pleasant surprise, seemingly getting the big things right. I won’t know until I get my hands on one, but my instincts tell me this will be an exciting and successful addition to the mirrorless market.

——

Nathan Lee Bush is a fashion and fine art photographer and filmmaker in New York City. His work is on his site, vimeo and blog.

Juergen Teller, "Teenager, Suffolk 2010: The Keys to the House" at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

7pm – 9pm  |  Artist Talk: Doug Rickard

Where: School at ICP, 1114 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

7pm – 10pm  |  Networking: Fall in Love with Networking Mixer

Where: 3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11237

Thu Feb 9, 2012

Caroll Taveras, Duality at FLOAT Gallery

10am – 6pm  |  Workshop: Adobe Premiere Pro Level II (Part 1 of 2)

Where: Manhattan Edit Workshop, 80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1501, New York NY 10011

1pm – 2:30pm  |  Webinar: VFX In The Color Bay

Where: http://www.filmmakingwebinars.com/webinars/vfx-in-the-color-bay/

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: “Winners of 2012 Nat’l Small Works Competition” | curated by Karen Marks

Where: Soho Photo, 15 White street, New York, NY

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: Group Show, “Modern Love” | curated by Jeff Quinn, Ronni Anderson

Where: Mayson Gallery, 254 Broome street, New York, NY

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: The Art of Small Books

Where: Soho Photo Gallery,15 White Street, New York, NY

6pm – 9pm  |  Workshop: Jess Dudley, “Building an Estimate”

Where: Chelsea Daylight Studio, 236 West 26th St, #1104, New York, NY

8pm – 9:30pm  |  Panel Discussion: The Marriage of Art & Technology: Creating in a Digital World

Where: Tekserve, 119 W 23rd St, New York, NY

Fri Feb 10, 2012

10am – 6pm  |  Workshop: Adobe Premiere Pro Level II (Part 2 of 2)

Where: Manhattan Edit Workshop, 80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1501, New York NY 10011

6pm – 7:30pm  |  Book Signing: Book Signing: Vicki Goldberg, “The White House”

Where: ICP Store, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

6pm – 9pm  |  Opening: Caroll Taveras, “Duality”

Where: F.L.O.A.T Gallery (Primary Photographic), 195 Chrystie Street, New York, NY

6pm – 8pm  |  Opening: Juergen Teller

Where: 201 Chrystie Street, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, NY

Sat Feb 11, 2012

10am – 6pm  |  Workshop: Avid Media Composer 101B (Part 1 of 2)

Where: Manhattan Edit Workshop, 80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1501, New York NY, 10011

11am – 2pm  |  Workshop: Street Photography (Part 2 of 4)

Where: 3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11237

Sun Feb 12, 2012

10am – 6pm  |  Workshop: Avid Media Composer 101B (Part 2 of 2)

Where: Manhattan Edit Workshop, 80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1501, New York NY, 10011

10:30am – 5:30pm  |  Portfolio Review: Powerhouse Arena

Where: PowerHouse Arena, 37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Mon Feb 13, 2012

10am – 6pm  |  Workshop: Adobe After Effects Level I (Part 1 of 3)

Where: Manhattan Edit Workshop, 80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1501, New York NY, 10011

5:30pm – 7:30pm  |  Workshop: In Search of Inspiration

Where: Adorama, 42 W 18th St, Floor 5, New York, NY

7pm – 8pm  |  Workshop: Matt Hoyle, “Storytelling”

Where: Apple Store, West 14th St, 401 West 14th St, New York, NY

Tue Feb 14, 2012

10am – 6pm  |  Workshop: Adobe After Effects Level I (Part 2 of 3)

Where: Manhattan Edit Workshop, 80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1501, New York NY, 10011

1pm – 2:30pm  |  Webinar: Fusion For After Effects Users

Where: http://www.filmmakingwebinars.com/webinars/fusion-for-after-effects-users/

Wed Feb 15, 2012

10am – 6pm  |  Workshop: Adobe After Effects Level I (Part 3 of 3)

Where: Manhattan Edit Workshop, 80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1501, New York NY, 10011

5:30pm – 7:30pm  |  Workshop: Canon EOS Discovery Day: HD Video Basics of Your Canon EOS DSLR

Where: Adorama, 42 W 18th St, 5th Floor, New York, NY

7pm – 9pm   |  Artist Talk: Jeffrey Henson Scales

Where: School at ICP, 1114 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

The ergonomics have been considerably tweaked. It’s lighter than its predecessor, has a curvy new chassis, the slanted shutter button of the D4, and a few tweaked buttons, notably the addition of a direct access bracketing control on the top left dial. The D800 also incorporates an SD card slot next to the CF card slot, acknowledging the popularity of the format and the increasing speeds available.

The video is also class-leading (for the moment), and Nikon is marketing it as “Full Cinematic Experience” Technology with the uncompressed HDMI out option of the D4, and audio monitoring capabilities. It also shoots 60fps at 720p, which seems to be the new standard on DSLRs, outside of the Sony family, which has 1080p 60fps video standard on even their mid-range mirrorless cameras and SLT cameras.

There are already videos up showcasing the cameras cinematic chops, and they are pretty impressive. Note the lack of discernible rolling shutter effect and impressive low light performance in this video (but some unfortunate moire at 0:45):

Unless Canon pulls out some pretty next level functionality with its 5D Mark III update, it looks like Nikon has finally even with Canon DSLRs in this area.

Adorama Pro is taking orders now at Adorama.com/Pro

Or by contacting one of the representatives:

Jeff:  jsnyder at adorama.com
Anne: annec at adorama.com
Julio: juliof at adorama.com
Ray: rayg at adorama.com

The D800 will be available next month, with the D800E making its way onto the market in April.

On this blog, Through The Looking Glass, we cover the announcement of the new APS-C mirrorless offering from Pentax, the K-01, which takes K-Mount lenses, as well as Ricoh’s latest GXR 24-85mm equivalent APS-C module release; The ‘Sh*t ______ say’ meme makes its way into the photography world, with a shockingly accurate tribute; Two photographers release the first image samples from the Fujifilm X-Pro1; and we cover the week’s photo and video events in New York City.

On Tech Tock, Mason links to a jargon free video explaining how images are captured in your camera.

On the Gear Guides and Reviews blog, Mark Wallace reviews the Flashpoint LCD 8 Inch Monitor.

At the Adorama News Desk, Pentax releases its large sensor mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, the K-01.

On the Techniques and How-Tos blog, Mason explains how to utilize shutter speed to minimize camera shake; goest author Brian McCarty explains the lighting setup for a complicated shot using perspective trickery; we interview veteran Sports Illustrated photographers Damian Strohmeyer and Peter Read Miller about their career and shooting the Super Bowl; and Tamara Lackey interviews photographer and shock value master, Doug Gordon.

*update: pre-order the Pentax K-01 here.*

With the micro-sized Q, Pentax’s first foray into the mirrorless interchangeable lens market, it seemed to be feeling out an underserved niche in the burgeoning field, betting that small form factor would overcome the disadvantages inherent in a small sensor size, and the flexibility of interchangeable lenses and external control would tempt enthusiast P&S buyers looking to trade up.

With the just announced K-01, its first major new camera since being acquired by Ricoh, Pentax has made another bold bet, launching another idiosyncratic arrow into the crowded field, now at the mid-to-high end of the range. This time, it has matched Sony and Samsung’s sensor size dominance while retaining its legacy K-Mount, evading the pressure faced by other new systems to ramp up production of a coherent lens family.

The inheritance of the K-Mount brings with it some technical hiccups, forcing Pentax to think outside the box with a unique body design. Jettisoning the mirror box, Fujifilm’s recent X-Mount X-Pro1, Sony’s E-mount cameras and Panasonic/Olympus Micro Four Thirds standard all benefit from incredibly short flange mount distances – 17.7, 18 and 19.25mm respectively – allowing extremely slim bodies with rangefinder-inspired side-to-side emphasis. The K-Mount, with a legacy flange-mount distance of 45.46mm, stuffs the internal components fore and aft, rather than side to side, creating a uniquely boxy form factor. The radical design by vaunted product designer Marc Newson will be one of the most contentious points of this camera, likely to send some traditionalists recoiling in horror, while catching the eye of photo contrarians and fashion forward accessorizers.

Technically, the camera is no slouch, borrowing specs prodigiously from the much-admired K-5. Perhaps the camera’s greatest advantage is its sensor, an updated version of the lauded Sony-made sensor in the K-5. With a 100-25600 ISO range, expect insane low-light performance and impressive dynamic range from this chunky little guy. The camera also sports a welcome 920k dot rear LCD and a six frame per second burst rate. Pentax’s patented sensor shift anti-shake/anti-dust technology is also on board.

The major potential disadvantage is the contrast detection, rather than phase detection, autofocus system. While no other mirrorless system has phase detection either, their new lenses are optimized for contrast detect AF. The K-mount lenses are, unfortunately, not. So while the deep native lens lineup is welcome, time will tell whether they can live up to the quick autofocus speeds we’ve come to expect of the leading mirrorless players.

No-doubt feeling the industry-wide pressure to miniaturize formerly bulky premium technologies, Pentax also announced a shockingly thin 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens to show it can make up for the inevitably deep body of any camera using this mount.

This is the first mirrorless system which doesn’t abandon its parent company’s legacy mount, and could embolden Nikon and Canon to make similar moves. Both of those companies are understandably loathe to abandon what is arguably their systems’ strongest asset, the decades of legacy glass to their name, but must mount a serious defense against the new large sensor compact interchangeable lens cameras.

——

Simultaneously with Pentax’s announcement, its new owner/partner, Ricoh, jointly released a new lens/sensor module for its innovative GXR hot-swappable camera system with a zoom range of 24-85mm equivalent F3.5-5.5 on a 16MP APS-C sensor. The GXR system continues to offer compelling modules at regular intervals, and has accrued a dedicated following for the system. It’s one of the more exciting, if unheralded, stories in the digital photo world.