ePhotozine
http://www.ephotozine.com/forums
This is a very active photography forum with a large amount of members (their record stats for members online at one time is 4074!). Together with the photography forum there are lots of camera equipment reviews, photo techniques, photography news and even an online store. The forum software isn’t the best though and we’d like to see it updated to make it more user-friendly.

PhotoSig
http://www.photosig.com/go/forums
PhotoSig is another great photo forum with lots of members from around the world that helps create a diverse yet ultimately helpful community. You can also get your own gallery space and ask for critiques on your photography to help you take better pictures. Unfortunately this forum software is lacking too which makes it difficult to navigate.

DcResource
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/
The Digital Camera Resource site was founded way back in November 1997. The DCRP is designed to be an unofficial resource for current and future owners of digital cameras. It is aimed more towards the consumer end, rather than the high end of photography. The forums are nice and clean with plenty of active members that help to make a vibrant community.

Talk Photography
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk
This photography forum is one of the most active we have seen, with nearly 3 million posts! Whatever day you visit, there are tons of active members and discussions going on. You can upload your own gallery images and ask for critiques to help you learn better techniques. The forum software is simple and easy to use, whilst the basic template design doesn’t detract from the main thing – discussion! We like the general lack of advertising that sometimes ruins other forums.

Forums are a great way to interact with other photographers. You can even find photographers that are local to you and organise meeting up for a shoot. Try joining one today, they are all free and full of people just like you that are looking to improve their photographic skills!

Do you know any other photography forums that are worth a mention? Do you run a forum for photographers? Write a comment to let us know…

Ten of the pioneering photos of snowflake crystals that American farmer Wilson Bentley began taking more than a century ago are to be sold in New York.

Wilson A Bentley (1865-1931) is thought to be the first photographer to capture images of single snowflakes on camera. He made thousands of the jewel-like prints, and came to the conclusion that no two snowflakes were the same. This concept caught the public imagination and he published other articles in magazines, including National Geographic, Nature (Journal), Popular Science and the Scientific American. His photographs have been requested by academic institutions worldwide. Bentley poetically described snowflakes as “tiny miracles of beauty” and snow crystals as “ice flowers.”

His photomicrography technique involved a microscope and a bellows camera. Snowflake expert Kenneth Libbrecht said the photos did not meet modern standards because of the “crude equipment” Bentley used.

“But he did it so well that hardly anybody bothered to photograph snowflakes for almost 100 years,” Mr Libbrecht added. He perfected a process of catching flakes on black velvet in such a way that their images could be captured before they melted.

Ironically, Bentley caught pneumonia in a blizzard and died just weeks after the publication of his book Snow Crystals.

Chicago art gallery owner Carl Hammer is selling them along with 16 of Bentley’s winter scenes at an antiques show at New York’s American Folk Art Museum.

“They’re remarkably beautiful,” said Mr Hammer.

“There are imperfections on the outer edges of the image itself and on the paper, but the images themselves are quite spectacular.”

Bentley, who was known as The Snowflake Man, wrote in 1925: “Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others.

“Every crystal was a masterpiece of design, and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost.”

Bentley also photographed all forms of ice and natural water formations including clouds and fog. He was the first American to record raindrop sizes and was one of the first cloud physicists.

Fujifilm has announced the release of Wunderbars, billed as “a revolutionary framing system for canvas prints”. Wunderbars offers a new way to create canvas prints – quickly, easily and without the need for specialist tools, Fujifilm says. Each frame has a sprung pin mechanism which automatically stretches the canvas and ensures it remains under constant tension.

Wunderbars’ constant tension stretcher bars are even easier to construct than normal stretched canvas prints. Wunderbars are precision machined so there is no need to measure the frame to get it square or  hit the frame with a mallet to keep it square during stretching, it will always remain square.

The Wunderbars system is touted as a natural progression from traditional stretcher bars and has been developed for photographers and framers from the hobbyist right up to the production canvas framer.

The wood used for Wunderbars is Tulip wood which, unlike pine, is a hard wood with a top quality look and feel. It’s a heavyweight timber with very little knotting. It helps give the completed frame a top quality professional feel. Wunderbars ticks all the environmental boxes too – the wood comes from sustainable sources and it is possible to reset and reuse a frame. FSC wood does cost a little bit more but not so much as to affect a purchasing decision. FSC wood comes from sustainable forests which help protect wildlife and the environment.

Wunderbars canvas frames come in packs of four in a range of sizes from 8inch to 48inch which will limit the canvas print sizes you can offer, but for most people this will be a good starter. It will be interesting to see if photographers try this system or continue to use established canvas printers such as ourselves. Obviously you still need a large canvas printer in the first place to print onto the canvas material. You then have the packaging costs to factor in, not to mention your time taken creating the canvas.

Full marks to Fujifilm though for trying something new. What do you think about the Wunderbars? Will you use them yourself or would you rather not get involved in the canvas printing side of things?

Toshiba, one of the leading innovators in NAND flash memory technologies has announced the launch of the world’s first 64GB SDXC Memory Card.

The new card is compliant with the new SD Memory Standard, Ver. 3.00. Toshiba also extended its industry leadership in memory card solutions by unveiling 32GB and 16GB SDHC Memory Cards compliant with the world’s fastest data transfer rate.

The new SDXC and SDHC Memory Cards are the world’s first compliant with the SD Memory Card Standard Version 3.00, UHS104, which brings a new level of ultra-fast read and write speeds to NAND flash based memory cards: a maximum write speed of 35MB per second, and a read speed of 60MB per second.

The combination of large storage capacities and increased data transfer rates will meet the needs of a wide range of consumer electronics applications such as digital still cameras and digital camcorders that require high bandwidth data communication. For us photographers this means digital SLR cameras will be able to shoot longer continuous bursts in the highest quality RAW format. Similarly, with these cards, it will be possible to download a 2.4GB video in only 70 seconds.

The SDXC card is the next-generation standard defined by the SD Association in January 2009. The new standard applies to cards with capacities over 32GB and up to 2TB, compared to the SDHC standard, which applies to cards with capacities over 2GB and up to 32GB.

The high level specifications and wide range of memory cards announced by Toshiba will further open the way for developers to bring applications to future generations of consumer products. By further enhancing its SD Memory Card lineups with larger capacity and a higher data transfer rate, Toshiba will continue to meet market demand and to lead the NAND flash memory market.

In the battle to differentiate its products in the competitive digital camera market, the Japanese camera maker has been developing a model that features two identical lenses and image sensors. It snaps almost-identical images that are blended together by a custom chip to produce a 3D image, it said.

The system has been dubbed Real 3D by FujiFilm and can be used for both still images and movies.

There have been attempts to introduce 3D photography in the past but a complicated set-up and reliance on 3D glasses has meant they’re too complicated for widespread use.

FujiFilm’s system makes use of a 2.8-inch 3D LCD panel on the rear of the prototype camera so viewers don’t need special glasses. For display of images the company has also come up with a prototype 3D photo frame that has an 8.4-inch display.

Aside from 3D images, the company imagines a camera with two lenses and image sensors could provide some other clever tricks such as the ability to shoot a wide and telephoto shot at the same time, or for a wide panorama shot by capturing half with each lens.

The prototype 3D camera first appeared at last year’s Photokina show in Germany and recently made an appearance a the PMA show in the U.S. and Tokyo’s Photo Imaging Expo. It’s next step will be onto store shelves. FujiFilm plans to launch its first 3D camera in Japan later this year.

The company sees a bright future in the technology, the aim of which is to capture pictures that are almost as good as the real thing. Whether it takes off or not depends on consumers but this is one technology you want to keep both eyes on.

The Pan-STARRS cameras, built with chips designed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, is part of a prototype telescope installed in an observatory on Maui’s Haleakala Mountain. Its high resolution will improve scientists’ ability to detect asteroids and comets by a factor of five.

“This is a truly giant instrument,” University of Hawaii astronomer John Tonry told the MIT News Service. “We get an image that is 38,000 by 38,000 pixels in size, or about 200 times larger than you get in a high-end consumer digital camera.”

Congress in 2005 directed NASA to detect 90% of near-Earth objects larger than 140 meters by 2020. According to a 2003 NASA report, the 60-meter rock that struck the Earth about 50,000 years ago and formed what is now called Meteor Crater in Arizona released the equivalent of more than 10 megatons of energy. It created a hole over a kilometer across and 200 meters deep.

The telescope is one of four that will eventually be housed in the observatory’s dome. It is part of a system named Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System) that is being developed at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy.

The first gigapixel camera was sent to Haleakala in August 2007 and mounted on the PS1 telescope, a prototype of the Pan-STARRS system.

The Pan-STARRS cameras each have 1.4 billion pixels on an area approximately 40cm square. A typical consumer camera has about 5 million pixels on a chip that measures a few millimeters.

The camera focal plane consists of a 60-by-60 arrays of 600-by-600 pixel CCDs. The CCD cells are grouped in 8-by-8 arrays on a single 5cm chip called an orthogonal transfer array.

They develop a chip called an orthogonal-transfer charge-coupled device, or OTCCD, which can shift its pixels to compensate for the blur of random image motion. This is similar in concept to physical stabilization features on consumer cameras, but OTCCD technology manages this feat electronically, at the pixel level.

Nearly two years after the introduction of the D80, Nikon has announced its successor, the D90. This new DSLR camera inherits its older brother’s outer dimensions, power source, 11-point AF module and most of its external controls, but adds a newly developed 12 megapixel CMOS sensor, EXPEED image processor, and a bigger, much higher-resolution rear LCD screen. The D90 also features a slightly improved viewfinder coverage, 3D focus tracking, ultrasonic sensor cleaning, 50% faster burst shooting, a larger buffer, Active D-lighting, in-camera raw development, an expanded ISO sensitivity range, HDMI connectivity, geotagging and Live View with Face Priority AF. On top of all that, it’s the first DSLR ever produced to offer an HD movie mode.

The control layout of the D90 is also very similar to the D80, with only the dedicated Live View button and an info button to the bottom right of the screen being completely new. The OK button has moved to the centre of the four-way pad, and the focus selector lock has been changed from a slider to a switch, but that’s it really – the other changes are cosmetic only, affecting the shape of buttons well known from the D80, and the colour of their labels. The similarities extend to the power source and the recording medium as well. The D90 runs on the same proprietary EN-EL3e Lithium-ion battery as the D80, and records images on SD/SDHC cards.

So, what’s new then? Quite a lot, actually. For starters, the D80′s ten megapixel CCD has been superseded by a 12 megapixel CMOS chip capable of providing a Live View feed, recording video and capturing full-resolution stills at 4.5 frames per second, up from 3fps in the D80. Even more importantly, the sensor can now clean itself, by way of high-frequency vibrations that will, at least in theory, shake off any non-adhesive dust particles that may have settled on the low-pass filter during a lens change. You can specify, via an option in the Setup menu, whether you want sensor cleaning to take place at shutdown, startup, both or neither, with the default being ‘both’. The cleaning process had no practical impact on startup times, which were near instant. The new image sensor is complemented by a more powerful processing engine and a larger buffer as well.

While the above changes remain invisible until you put the camera to actual use, there is one development that will be very hard to overlook for anyone taking even a casual look at a D90: the rear screen. The D80 already had a nice, big 2.5” TFT LCD with a resolution of 230,000 dots, but it pales in comparison with the D90′s three-inch, 920,000-dot monitor. On the new camera, the screen is used not only to navigate menus and to review pictures, but can also act as a secondary status display, facilitating the transition for former D50/D40/D60 owners who are not yet used to having a top-mounted status LCD on their cameras. And of course it’s also the rear screen that provides live view for capturing both stills and movies.

One of the extras the D90 offers over the D80 is Live View off the main sensor. While other manufacturers have been implementing this feature across their entire DSLR line, Nikon has, until now, reserved it for their higher-priced models, including the D300, the D3 and the D700. With the D90, Live View has arrived to less well-heeled Nikon fans as well. And while on their other cameras, LV was one of the drive mode options, it now has its own dedicated button. Live View is either delivered on the high-resolution rear monitor or on any LCD panel or plasma screen connected to the camera via an HDMI cable. There is a red rectangle in the middle, which you can move practically anywhere in the frame. When in manual focus mode, you can magnify into this rectangle in five steps simply by repeatedly pressing the button marked with a loupe icon, but this magnification seems to be interpolated rather than real.

Live View is also what’s used for the feature that has arguably generated the most interest in the Nikon D90: its movie mode. The camera records high-definition, wide-screen video in 1280×720 pixel resolution, at a frame rate of 24fps, in AVI format using the motion JPEG codec. The maximum size of a single video clip is 2 gigabytes which, given that movies occupy about 100 megabytes of storage space per minute, would theoretically translate into about 20 minutes of continuous recording, but – apparently because of certain legal regulations in the EU –, Nikon decided to limit the clip length to 5 minutes for high-definition movies. By offering video capture in a DSLR, Nikon has made it possible for filmmakers to play with depth of field the way they never could, taking advantage of the relatively big sensor and the wide assortment of Nikkor lenses.

Nikon D90, with its self-cleaning sensor, excellent meter, sophisticated multi-point AF system, large viewfinder, 4.5fps continuous shooting speed, wireless flash options and great degree of cusomisability is hard to beat, especially at its price point of around £679 for body only.

Read the full review over at PhotographyBlog.com

Whether you are a professional photographer who wants to offer your clients a new print solution or you just have some great photos that you want to hang on your walls, our new Photos on Canvas service is going to be very handy indeed.

This new feature to the Fotoviva site is so simple – just a few clicks is all it takes to have your own image printed onto canvas. You can upload the digital file, choose your preferred size, finish and details, then we will do the rest.

Everyone has holiday snaps, lovable pet photos or family pictures – so why not show them off in style by letting us print your photos to canvas so you can hang them on your walls in all their glory! And with Christmas coming up they make unique presents for friends and family.

Yes you can save a few pounds getting them printed onto canvas elsewhere, but why risk having sub-standard frames and print quality? We use professional materials, our wooden frames are from sustainable forests, all our canvases are made in the UK and they are still great value for money.

As with the main art collection, we can also print your digital photos on non-standard sizes or as triptych canvases so if you would prefer this please contact us and we will provide you with our best quote.

The high-speed, 12-channel readout enables the D700 to achieve a fast continuous shooting speed of 5fps, or 8 fps with the Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10 fitted. The Nikon D700 has a more compact design than the D3, and also features the same integrated dust reduction system as the D300 model. The Nikon D700 will cost £1999.99 and be available from July 2008.

”The Nikon D3 has taken the action photography industry by storm, motivating many pros to change their brand of choice, and we expect the D700 to continue that trend,” said Robert Cristina, Manager Professional Products and NPS at Nikon Europe. He added: “The D700 excels in the extreme low-light and high-contrast conditions under which today’s cameras are judged and affirms Nikon’s ongoing commitment to meeting tomorrow’s imaging needs.”

The D700 inherits the superior image quality of the D3 and uses the same core technologies such as the highly-sensitive 12.1 effective megapixel CMOS image sensor. The D700 also features the same innovative EXPEED high-speed image-processing system, 14-bit A/D conversion and 16-bit processing pipeline to provide the detail and smooth gradation necessary for outstanding print enlargement and reproduction. The D700 is ideal for those seeking a perfectly-balanced DSLR on the move, without compromising durability or environmental resistance to moisture and dust.

The D700 incorporates an image sensor cleaning system that uses high frequency vibrations to reduce the accumulation of dust on the image sensor surface. A responsive 5fps is possible with the compact 1500mAh EN-EL3e lithium-ion battery, with up to 8 fps possible by attaching the optional MB-D10 battery pack using the powerful 2500mAh EN-EL4a battery if desired. The practical i-TTL built-in pop up flash with 24mm lens coverage is ideal for discrete flash lighting when a full size Speedlight might be too cumbersome. Despite its attractive price tag, the D700 boasts a comprehensive range of features that include a highly responsive shutter release time lag of just 40ms, the acclaimed accuracy of the 51-point MultiCAM3500 AF system, DX Crop Mode and Live View with contrast-detect AF displayed on the same high-definition 3-inch TFT monitor used on the D3 and D300.

One of the most significant advantages of FX format cameras is the viewfinder experience which offers outstanding solid glass pentaprism, 95% coverage and adjustable AF point LED illumination for a bright, uninterrupted view. The D700 also has the ability to display the Virtual Horizon level indicator during Live View mode.

System Improvements to the 1,005-pixel RGB sensor have allowed information from the sensor to be utilised for auto exposure, auto white balance and autofocus. 3D-Tracking in AF, for example, achieved by using the Scene Recognition System, tracks subject colour position and automatically shifts the AF points used to match the subject’s movement within the frame. This system also contributes to higher accuracy of auto exposure and auto white balance.

The ultrahigh-definition [920,000-dot VGA (640 x 480)], 3-inch LCD monitor with tempered glass provides a 170° viewing angle. The large monitor is remarkably effective when confirming the focus with enlarged playback images. The wide viewing angle enables easy recomposing of the frame in Handheld mode with Live View. Image Sensor Cleaning Vibrations at four different resonant frequencies steer dust away from the optical low-pass filter in front of the image sensor. This function is automatically activated each time the camera is turned on and off, and can also be activated via the menu.

Ok so that’s some of the technical jargon for you pros out there, but when was the last time Nikon released a bad camera eh? If you have the money and some compatible lenses then you can’t go wrong with this beast of a DSLR.

A bit late for this but I have only just got some file copies from those nice people at Nikon. My ‘Rising Swan’ photograph was entered into a Nikon competition last year and although it didn’t win, they have featured it on the February month of the official Nikon Calendar for 2008 Must admit I’m quite gobsmacked by this but very happy, and to make it even sweeter they paid me to feature it! The print is proving very popular on the Fotoviva site and has had some great reviews by fellow photographers. You can find it in the Wildlife Art Prints section where it can be bought on gallery wrapped canvas or as a poster art print.