Posts Tagged ‘photographer’
App Review ~ Viewbook
Viewbook Portfolio 1.0
I’m back after a long delay, but still obsessed as much as I was the last time for iPad photography apps. It was encouraging that one individual emailed me for advice with choosing the right App, thank you. I have one today that is a little different; Viewbook. It hit the App Store back in April with their take on what a digital portfolio service should look like on the iPad.
Now full disclosure here: I am already a Viewbook customer and have been for over a year as I write this. I didn’t know they were going to release their own app when I started these reviews but combining a professional web-based portfolio service with a tablet app seems like a no brainer and can’t be ignored.
This isn’t a review of the web service except where it works with the iPad app. Without further delay, let’s get into the meat.
Alrik Swagerman of Viewbook Interviewed
The twelfth interview from a series of interviews with Photographers and iOS Developers alike. All of them develop portfolio Apps for Apple’s iPad and iPhone in some way. This interview is with Alrik Swagerman based in Rotterdam. Co-founder of the online portfolio service Viewbook.com.
Viewbook can be found at any of the links below:
Website, iTunes, Podcast, Twitter, Facebook,
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Fuji X100 ~ Round Up Parts 3 and 4
The Phoblographer has written a six day field test of the Fuji X100. Fairly in-depth covering his first six days with the camera. Check out the days, I’ve included the sections for each day as well:
- Day 1 - Ergonomics, Focusing, Handling, Menus, Ease of Use, Image Quality (there is also an attempt to shoot manually).
- Day 2 – Quirks, Image Quality (film modes), Metering, Macro Mode,
- Day 3 – Film Modes, Metering, Viewfinder Overlay, Bokeh & Image Quality (Macro Mode), About 35mm,
- Day 4 – Conditions, Flash, Macro Focusing in Low Light
- Day 5 – Exposure Fine Tuning, Exploring the Meter, ND Filter, High ISO, Low Light Focusing, Auto White Balance
- Day 6 – Battery and using it with a DIY Ring Flash.
- Michael Carptentier reviews his Fuji X100 against the Panasonic GF1. Originally in French but it’s been run through the Google Translator here. Good comparison between the two cameras. I’m still buying the Fuji X100 though.
- Dpreview have updated their Studio Comparisons, they have also included Fuji X100 test shots.
- Thom Hogan says ‘skip for now’.
- Outback Photo: Field Test Review - Nice lengthy write up with plenty of test images.
- Great size comparison of the X100 against a Leica IIIf
- Ryan Brenizer has used his X100 on a wedding shoot, he shares his well considered thoughts.
- Steve Huff: The top 7 complaints of the X100 and how I get around them. – Great list of fixes to the most common complaints with this camera, most of which are shockingly easy to overcome and aren’t actually an issue.
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- Does the current battery charger annoy you with its cable? The guys over at x100enthusiasts.com have come up with a clever hack to cut out the cord. Check it out here, the picture says it all.
- The same guys from x100enthusiasts have also create a Hyper-focal distance chart for the X100.
- This last link from the same website as previous has a discussion about alternative camera straps. Personally I’m a fan of the standard strap until I find another one I had my eye on but can’t remember the link to. Why? I can wear the camera under my jacket and forget about it while walking around. Though the Gordy strap at the end of the discussion does look nice.
- Do you want a solution to couple GPS to your FujiX100 (or any camera really)? Check out gps4cam over on the Apple App Store.
- Daisuki Photo have tested some SD memory cards for your Fuji X100. More comprehensive then the information I linked to in a previous update. They tested 7 SD cards, surprisingly, some are faster than others but are rated slower. Anyway, we all want to buy one of the new UHS-1 cards don’t we? :-) Helpfully, Daisuki have shopping links to various countries if you want to purchase them.
- For those interested, Daisuki Photo also have a X100 vs GF1 review (making a few comparisons between all the regular attributes plus a video quality comparison), ISO test between the X100 and the GH2 and a size comparison between the X100, GF1, GH2 and the EPL-2. It’s amazing how the X100 isn’t that much bigger and even more amazing how I didn’t come across this website earlier.
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Petr Kleiner’s photo stream can be found here. There are a whole series of these beautifully crafted portraits so check them out. Petr is really showing off what the Fuji X100 can do. The actual image can be found here.
Pigeon & People
Photo taken by photovia, his photostream can be found here.
Round Up ~ April’s Blog Posts
A round up of posts from the month of April, in reverse chronological order. (Newest at the top).
- App Review ~ Portfolio
- Adobe: This is how you do it
- App Review ~ Minimal Folio
- Simon Heys of Minimal Folio Interviewed
- Street Photography – Documenting the Human Condition
- App Review ~ Collections for iPad
- Simon Lunt of Teleportfolio Interviewed
- Old Media is New Media, again
- PadFolios App Review – Part 1
- PadFolios App Review – Part 2
- Fuji X100 ~ Blogs, rumours and portraits
- Fuji X100 – A week’s retrospective
- Fuji X100 – From Norway to Japan
- Fuji X100 – Mini roundup and thoughts
- Fuji X100 – Frustrations and customisations
- Fuji X100 ~ Tips, tricks and charger alternatives
- Fuji X100 vs 5Dmk2 vs 7D
- Fuji X100 – Firmware
- Fuji X100 – Personal Moments
- Fuji X100 vs Leica M9 & Raw Support
App Review ~ Portfolio
Portfolio (Version 1.5.6)
Home Screen
Portfolio
Portfolio for iPad is a blank slate waiting for your personalisation. You can customize its appearance to completely fit your business, giving the appearance of a custom app developed exclusively for you.”
Fuji X100 – A week’s retrospective
It’s questionable depending on the point of view, but one less frustration was taken away from Fuji X100 users. The first firmware was released and while the instructions were confusing for some and the version number is either a .01 or .10, it did provide a fix:
- If the images are shot with ISO Bracketing mode when “QUICK START MODE”(*1) is set to “ON” and turn off the camera, the camera cannot be turned on again even with ordinary operation.
Patrick La Roque + Fuji X100 + SB-900 = great set of images synced at 1/1000s showing what the ‘beast’ can do.
The NYTimes (via David Pogue) has published their review.
It’s a different take from the other reviews; focusing on the handling of the camera which Pogue has a lot to say about. The human experience is always something that is apparent in his reviews. I won’t go to Pogue for camera tests, but Pogue certainly knows what he wants from the gadgets he reviews. One thing I did want to pick up on was his comment about how the Fuji is a ‘baffling’ design.
I wouldn’t say the X100 is ‘baffling’, instead logical. It’s been clear for some time now the photography market is trying to evolve, and move cameras away from being an black box. If it takes us back towards Rangefinder cameras, it simply means digital has finally caught up with those previous designs on the aesthetic front. Leica themselves have only achieved what many have wanted for years; a full frame digital rangefinder. I only expect more of the same.
* by JB.Maher
JB.Maher’s flickr stream can be found here.
Simon Heys of Minimal Folio Interviewed
The eleventh interview from a larger series of interviews with Photographers and iOS Developers. All of them develop portfolio Apps for Apple’s iPad and iPhone. This interview is with Simon Heys, based in London, England. He is a graphic designer and Programmer. He writes his own iOS Apps.
Minimal Folio is a simple way to present images and video on your iPad or iPhone. The app is unbranded so your portfolio can do the talking.
iTunes, App Shopper, Homepage, Twitter.
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App Review ~ Collections for iPad
Collections for iPad Home Screen
Collections for iPad Version 1.7
CFI provides a one-stop solution to organise your photos into photo books, collect you photos into a portfolio and even share your collections. You can choose your favourite layouts to show off your photos. You can transfer your photos from your computer (directly), Facebook and Dropbox into beautiful collections for sharing, export your photobooks into PDF and play slideshows of your photo books with music as well.
Collections for iPad
As with all iOS portfolio Apps, it’s important to know how they introduce themselves on first use. Do they provide a quick run through of the App with instructions, contain a help guide/slideshow? How easily does the App allow the user to get to work? The first thing an artist is going to do is create a gallery and then customise it. This walkthrough and others walk that line.
Collections for iPad (CFI), is the fourth iOS App in this series of portfolio Apps to be reviewed. As you can read from the Quick Features list, there are options galore for customising nearly every aspect of a portfolio. You might feel a little overwhelmed, but for those who want an extreme amount of control, if you want the ability to edit to your hearts content, to the individual pixel, Collections for iPad is probably it.
