PPA Today

What Should I Look for in a Press Printed Book?

Now that couples are asking for press printed books and  being tempted by low cost books online, here are some of the choices you have  to distinguish your offerings and make sure your photography is professionally  presented and preserved.

Print Quality
To get the color you desire, request and use the printer’s  color profile. And be sure to embed your color profile in all images. You will  need color correction the same as you did for your prints. When you make your  first press printed book, ask for sample pages of your photos so you can see  how your photos look. Both you and the printer can then make adjustments if  necessary.

Paper Weight 
Paper is sold in the US using a crazy system of lb  weights. The “lb” part refers to the weight of 500 standard size sheets - but  the standard sheets vary in size depending on their assumed end use – usually  Text or Cover.

Tamron Educational Purchase Rebate Program 2008

TAMRON Announces new educational purchase rebate program for students majoring in photography and other communications programs. New Program Now Allows Tamron Dealers to Deliver Lenses Purchased by Qualifying Students and Educators on Same Day of Purchase

Instructors & Students employed by or enrolled in select U.S. universities and community colleges and teaching or majoring in photography, photojournalism, visual media, fine art, design, film, video, or communications are eligible for significant rebates on Tamron products. The Educational Purchase Rebate CAN be combined with any regular Tamron rebate in effect at the time of your purchase. Click here for details.

Drive-Imaging: Beyond Backup

Your image files may be backed up, are your applications? What about your system software? How long will it take you to locate all of your install disks, serial numbers, and activation codes to re-install your software?

If you cannot afford that kind of down-time, consider drive-imaging to create a virtual image of your entire hard drive.   With a drive image back-up, you'll save not only your data but your programs, drivers, and all the settings that make your machine yours.

Read Edward Mendelson's article on pcmag.com and see how he rates 5 popular drive-imaging software packages.

Mitsubishi Printer Wrap-up Video from PMA

At the 2008 PMA Show in Las Vegas, Mitsubishi presented its new CP-3800DW high speed 8 x 10 digital color printer, the CP-9800DW high speed 5 x 7 printer, and the DPS Kiosk 7000. In addition, Mitsubishi gave the public its first look at the new Mini-DPS System, a soon to be released portable digital photo management and printing station.

Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America Previews Mini-DPS SystemPortable Digital Photo Management And Printing Station For Event Photographers

Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc. today previewed the new Mini-DPS System portable digital photo management and printing station that is ideal for event photographers and retail applications. The new Mini-DPS System is a plug and play, hyper-intuitive print management solution that integrates seamlessly with Mitsubishi’s CP-9550DW-U for proven print quality and system reliability. The new Mini-DPS System is now available to a new broader market at an attractive price.

Mitsubishi Digital Electronics Launches New CP-3800DW At PMA

In an introduction that provides professional photographers with unprecedented printing versatility coupled with accelerated speed and improved print quality, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics today introduced the new CP-3800DW digital color printer at PMA 2008.  Despite an ultra-compact form factor with the category’s smallest footprint, the CP-3800DW boasts tremendous print power: it is capable of outputting prints in 4x8” postcard size, 6x8” scrapbook size and 8x10” for studio applications — all off the same roll!

ExpressDigital named as Fast 50 Winner 2 Years In A Row!

ExpressDigital has been named on Deloitte's prestigious Colorado Technology Fast 50 list, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Colorado by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP. Rankings are based on the percentage revenue growth over five years from 2002–2006.

ExpressDigital moved up in the rankings to 23rd on the 2007 Fast 50 list from 28th in 2006. ExpressDigital's increase in revenues of 130% from 2002 to 2006 resulted in the outstanding ranking.

Apple to Ship Mac OS X Leopard on October 26

Apple® today announced that Mac OS® X Leopard will go on sale Friday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. at Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple's online store is now accepting pre-orders. Leopard is packed with more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac®.

"Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X, is the best upgrade we've ever released," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "And everyone gets the ‘Ultimate' version, packed with all the new innovative features, for just $129."

Kodak Introduces New Kodak Professional T-Max 400 Black-and-White Film

For decades, the world's greatest photographers have trusted Kodak's black-and-white films to help them achieve the best of their artistic visions. Today Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) enhances its black-and-white professional film portfolio with the introduction of an improved KODAK PROFESSIONAL T-MAX 400 Film.

The new film, utilizing Kodak's patented T-GRAIN emulsions, delivers finer grain and higher sharpness. T-MAX 400 now stands alone as the world's finest grained and the world's sharpest 400-speed black-and-white film, offering photographers a level of clarity normally only available from a 100-speed film. T-GRAIN emulsions, first introduced 25 years ago, remain the gold standard in the photographic industry.

Carl Zeiss SLR Lenses Now Available for K-Bayonet

Carl Zeiss now offers its premium SLR lenses for an additional camera mount, the K-bayonet. This lens series will be sold under the ZK name.

Until now, the manual focus SLR lenses were only available for the F-bayonet (ZF series) and the M42 screw thread mount (ZS series). SLR lenses from Carl Zeiss are known for their outstanding image quality and precise, long-lasting mechanical parts. For the design of these lenses, Carl Zeiss drew on more than 100 years of experience in camera optics and current advancements from the production of high-quality lenses for cinematography. Cine lenses from Carl Zeiss have been used in numerous major productions, such as The Lord of the Rings and Perfume.

Lenses for the K-bayonet will initially be available in the following range:

•     Distagon      T* 2.8/25 ZK
•     Distagon      T* 2/35 ZK
•     Makro-Planar      T* 2/50 ZK
•     Makro-Planar      T* 2/100 ZK
•     Planar      T* 1.4/85 ZK
•     Planar      T* 1.4/50 ZK

In the future, the SLR line of lenses will be expanded to offer demanding photographers an even larger selection of focal lengths for their work.