Britain's Got Talent Final 30-05-09

Images from Britain's Got Talent Final which attracted an audience of 19.2 million viewers!!

Britain's Got Talent 5th Semi Final 29-05-09

Britain's Got Talent 4th Semi Final 28-05-09

App that Lets You Trigger Canon DSLRs from Your iPhone

Just found information about this iphone app over at Photo District News.

Now Available

That Apple iPhone app we broke the news about last week from onOne Software that lets you to trigger a Canon digital SLR from your iPhone or iPod Touch has been approved by Apple and is now for sale in the iTunes App Store. Called DSLR Remote, the application lets you trip the shutter and control camera settings such as shutter speed, aperture and and white balance for Canon DSLRs right from your iPhone or iPod Tuch.

In a blog post about the Apple approval, onOne Software's Mike Wong says a Nikon version of DSLR Remote will be next. To Nikon users, Wong writes:

"I’ve got good news for you - we will be adding support for Nikon DSLRs as well which will be available in an update to the app in the very near future. A special thank you goes out to some good friends at Nikon who were kind enough to send some cameras and accessories out to us today for testing. We expect to get the Nikon DSLR cameras in our office tomorrow and we’ll begin testing. Stay tuned to this blog for the most up-to-date info on when the Nikon support will be available." 

JVC 42" Monitor For Photographers

How many times have you spent hours creating a presentation which looks fantastic on your computer screen but is unrecognisable when viewed on your TV screen..... Well JVC may have the answer - if you have deep pockets!

Terry White from Terry White's Tech Blog explains further..

In the studio I’m almost always shooting tethered to my laptop right into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Although I’ve got it down to a science, there is still a lag of a few seconds (doesn’t sound like a long time I know, but wait until you’re the one waiting) from the time I press the shutter until the RAW file is transferred via USB 2 to a folder (via Nikon’s Camera Control Pro 2) and then imported into Lightroom and rendered on screen at nice large size. It’s actually pretty amazing that all that happens in just a few seconds.

However, nothing is faster than plugging your camera up to a TV monitor and shooting. You see the shots instantly! You see them nice and big because chances are the TV screen is going to be much larger than your laptop screen (unless you’re using a desktop computer and larger display).

I’ve always wanted to start using an HDTV instead, especially since both my Nikon D300 and Nikon D700 DSLR cameras have HDMI outputs built right in. However, the question has always been “WHICH HDTV DO I BUY?” I’ve experimented with some smaller models and the problem has always been, what I see on the HDTV doesn’t match closely enough to the actual image. In some cases the color can be way off. In other cases the image on screen is much crisper than the actual photo. All of this can lure you into a false sense of security that your final image will look like this, good or bad. That’s why shooting into Lightroom has always been where I’ve been most comfortable because I know what I see in Lightroom is what I actually shot. After all, it’s in the computer and being shown on the display that I’ll be using from that point on to review, adjust and retouch the photos.

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JVC introduces a New HDTV targeted specifically at photographers

The New 42″ XIVIEW LCD TV is a 1080p set that has one thing that most HDTV’s don’t have and that is the Adobe RGB color gamut. It also has 52 manual picture quality adjustments, which means that you stand a much better chance at getting an image on screen that looks like the image that will ultimately wind up on your computer display. Here’s what JVC has to say about it:

But here’s what truly distinguishes the LT-42WX70: Its color gamut is capable of encompassing 100% of the sRGB color space and offers a coverage rate of 96% for Adobe RGB, making it possible to faithfully reproduce, as an industry first, the striking colors, subtle nuances and unique ambience of D-SLR photographs on a 42″ Class screen. The monitor also offers a selection from one of the six preset modes that are most suitable for the source such as Photo PRO and Theater.

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OK, now what?

Sounds great! However, here are a couple of things that keep from running out and getting one today. First of all the list price on this baby is $2,399.95. That’s a sizable investment for a guy who only does this as a hobby. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a gearhead and I have no problem spending on the gear that will make a difference, but ouch, that’s a lot of coin to shave “seconds” off my workflow. Yeah, I know that the seconds add up, but again this is a hobby. The second thing is that I would want the option of rotating this display in either a portrait or landscape orientation. That means that I either need to find a special mount or build it myself. Ideally I’d want this on a table or cart that can be wheeled around. I could wall mount it, but that would be just too limiting. So I would need to find or make the right setup for it first.

The Bottom Line: This is a huge step in the right direction! I’d like to see some smaller options too. I actually don’t need a 42″ display. Ideally a 32″ or even a 22″ would be fine. Will this display be near the top of my wishlist? Absolutely! Now that JVC has created the HDTV photographers want, will someone step up and finish it by creating the stands, tables, wallmounts, etc. that rotate and have cable management. While we’re at it and while I’m assigning a list of things to do (manufacturer/invent), how about some wireless tethered shooting methods that are fast enough to handle RAW files and are built-in or easily added to DSLRs? I can only dream…

Britain's Got Talent 3rd Semi Final 26-05-09

Pricing Thoughts

I've found this great post over at Photofocus -  what-photographers-can-learn-from-apple/  It explains all you need to know about pricing!

Britain's Got Talent 2nd Semi Final 25-05-09

Britains Got Talent 1st Semi Final 24-05-09

Britain's Got Talent 1st Live Semi Final

Wow! What a great 1st semi final we were treated to last night on Britain's Got Talent.   Susan Boyle was amazing and Diversity were on fire! Congratulations to both acts for reaching Saturdays final.   Commiserations to those that didn't make it...your time will come!

The press team worked tirelessly to make sure my images from the show made deadline,  I swear I saw smoke coming from Steve's fingers such was the speed he was tripping those computer keys!!  Judging by the acres of coverage we have achieved in  today's newspapers it was worth it. The number of front pages and double page spreads is fantastic and greatly satisfying.  My heartfelt thanks to Steve, Chris, Sara, Hannah and Gary for all their hard work.

For those who did not manage to catch last night's show, I'll be posting a link to a video of last nights highlights shortly.

Britain's Got Talent 2009

Next week is going to be very busy.  I will be spending most of my days, evenings and nights! at Fountain Studios shooting the live Britain's Got Talent Shows. 

I have a great team helping and supporting me.  Sara the brilliant publicist for the show and Steve (my fantastic wire man) will be editing and sending my images to all national newspapers and magazines throughout the week of transmission.  Chris at Rex Features always does a fantastic job adding them to the Rex site for any publication to collect that is not on our distribution list. I anticipate that It will  be a pressured but fun week, however nothing is better than the feeling of satisfaction you get seeing your images published, it makes all the hard work, pressure and effort worth it.

I am really looking forward to next week, although the hours and pressure will be extreme and by the end of the week we will all be shattered, the team at BGT make everything run smoothly and are great fun to work with. 

I hope to post images from the shows here during the week (if time permits) so keep checking in

Cheers