As if there weren't enough photo-sharing sites, Nikon's Picturetown is up an running for folks in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. This is in addition to a bunch of European countries.

Basically, if you've got a Nikon camera with WiFi you can point, click, upload and share, all from the camera without a PC.

Seems interesting enough but it's hard to see why Nikon would go into the web site business when services like Flickr, .Mac and social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace already make image sharing so easy.

 Nikon • Photo-sharing • Picturetown

I've not used Photoshop Express or Flickr but I know that many people have an interest in these services. They've been integrated so that you can store and edit images in Photoshop Express and then send images directly to Flickr for sharing.

I must admit that I was a little surprised when, a couple of weeks ago, Adobe announced that Creative Suite 3 Design Premium applications could be used on a subscription basis rather that the traditional purchase model. So far, Australia is the only market where this offered. It's worth noting that many software vendors use Australia as a test market (we were lucky enough to be the first market to get product activation from Microsoft).

“Available only in Australia, the Creative Suite 3 Design Premium Subscription Edition allows communications professionals and designers to have access to the latest version of the industry’s leading design suite in a new flexible payment method,” said Peter McAlpine, Australia and New Zealand country manager at Adobe. “We are excited to offer the subscription Edition to our customers in Australia first and look forward to their feedback before we consider extending it to other parts of the world.”

I resisted the urge to post on this impulsively as there was already plenty of coverage (and I'm not a fan of "me to" blogging). What I've been thinking about is whether subscription software is a good thing at all.

When I need a piece of software I walk into a shop (or browse to one), make a decision, hand over some cash or plastic and collect a box/DVD/array of strategic placed ones and zeroes. I understand that I can use it for as long as I like without having to spend any more. Subscription is different - you're effectively renting the software.

The estimated street price for the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium Subscription Edition is AU$129 per month for a 12 month contract and AU$199 per month with no contract (month-by-month payment). That's compared with a street price of about AU$2500 for purchase. We've done some further checking and learned the folowing.

The purchase price for customers converting from subscription to perpetual license will be discounted at a rate yet to be confirmed.

Why go to a subscription? For some businesses it makes sense as a way to charge customers. If you need to use a specific application for a job, you can charge the customer for that application in a quite granular way rather than having to offset a software purchase over a long period of time. On the other hand, if the client comes back in six months, you'll need to resubscribe, even if it's only for a 10-minute job. That means you'll either have to wear the subscription cost for that time or charge the customer a higher-than-normal price.

I'm wondering what the real motivation from Adobe is. Are they trying to take away the incentive to pirate their software? Is this a way to convert occasional users that would "borrow" the software into paying users? In my view, if Adobe allows "renters" to offset the purchase cost with the rental they've paid then this is a good idea.

Personally, I doubt that I'd ever rent. I prefer to pay for my software and use it when and where I want. However, I can see where this might benefit a small group of users and help Adobe with revenue protection.

There's a great post over at The Nokia Blog about how to send photos from your N Series phone straight to Flickr.

Definitely worth a look!

 Flickr • Nokia N-Series

A couple of weeks ago I went to a media briefing for the launch of the new Sony alpha digital cameras and was talking to another journalist. I asked him why consumers would consider Aperture when iPhoto well and truly passes the "good enough" test. When I went to Apple's Aperture roadshow (see this report) I saw that software do some amazing things at the hands of one of Apple's product specialists.

One of the Aperture's main advantages is its handling of RAW files - the format that dSLR shooters use. RAW isn't an image format per se - it's the data that comes off the camera's sensor. Aperture lets you do some sensational transformations to RAW images. What I discovered tonight, when I imported some images from my Nikon D80 using iPhoto, was that iPhoto can handle RAW files. Now, if you use Photoshop for tweaking your images, it's hard to see why you'd need Aperture.

As an aside, the ability for Macs to use RAW files isn't built into applications - it's in the operating system That means RAW files should look the same in all programs.

Now, iPhoto can't do everything Aperture can. However, I'd venture that most serious photographers would have a copy of Photoshop and the combination of iPhoto and Photoshop might just be enough for many photographers. That said, I can see the attraction of Aperture 2. It's clean interface isn't as glitzy as iPhoto but it has all the tools a photographer needs close at hand. Whereas iPhoto is focussed on organisation and showing photos off, Aperture is about tweaking and workflow.

Many of the differences between iPhoto and Aperture might only be superficial but they are all about their target audiences.

 Aperture • iPhoto • Photography

I love learning new stuff. HDR, or High Dynamic Range imaging, is a photography technique that overlays a number of identical images shot at different exposure levels. There's a nice tutorial over at The Nokia Blog on how to shoot images and then apply this technique.

You need equipment beyond your camera phone. A tripod and keyboard are necessary so that your images have as little change as possible. The tripod keeps your camera in one place. The keyboard prevents you from touching your phone and causing any disturbances.

Great stuff!

 HDR • N-Series • photography

Over at Digital Photography School there's a good post offering advice on wehat to do when you see the dreaded "Card Corrupt" or "Meeory Card Not Formatted" message n your camera's screen.

Definitely worth reading and bookmarking for future reference.

Remember folks - there are tow type of memory cards: those that have failed and those that are about to fail.

I've been looking around for decent photography sites that either offer reasonable equipment reviews or or other resources. It's by no means a comprehensive list but I've added them to my RSS reader as places I'll regularly check in on.

Photozone: Reviews, plenty of lenses covered from all major manufacturers.

The Nikonians: No prizes for guessing what they're into!

Imaging Resource: News and reviews

The Online Photographer: "all-purpose time-wasting website for photo-dawgs of every stripe, age, sex, color, nationality, description, economic stratum, and media preference"

DP Expert: digital photography news and reviews

 cameras • dSLR • Photography resources

This one's via the lovely Jenneth at Gear Diary:

The team at the Wired How To Wiki have published links and instructions on how to apply some custom, open source firmware to a number of different Canon point-and-shoot digital cameras. The hack uses the CHDK, Canon Hacker's Development Kit. There's a compatibility list so you can check if your camera's supported. You'll also need a spare SD card and card reader. The update doesn't actually change the camera's firmware. Rather, it boots from the SD card so you can revert to the original set-up simply by restarting the camera.

Among the updates the hack delivers are

• RAW file format
• live histogram display
• a battery readout
• the ability to run scripted actions on a camera.

If your camera's on the supported list give it a try and tell us how it worked out by posting a comment.

 Camera Hacks • Canon

Aperture 1 was released in 2005 to a lukewarm reception. The biggest problem was that as the first app of its type on the market no-one really knew what to make if it or what to use it for. It looked like a solution searching for a problem. The world's moved on since then and the proliferation of dSLR cameras has meant that professional and enthusiast photographers are looking for workflow tools to help manage their growing image libraries and facilitate the post-production process.

That's where Aperture 2 enters the picture (pardon the pun!). Apple calls it an "all in one post production tool". I've just returned from a product briefing with Apple and I'm impressed. I'll have a full review published elsewhere but I thought i'd share a few things from the briefing that aren't in the review.

1. Apple has an Aperture advisory committee made up of professional photographers from prestigious magazines, newspapers, weddings and other spheres. They provide direct input to the development team.


2. Part of Aperture's performance testing was with photo libraries of up to 750,000 images.


3. Aperture can be used to create photo books just like iPhoto with one significant advantage - the Photo book layout can be customised (iPhoto limits you to specific templates and layouts)


4. Aperture allows you to create metadata templates that you can apply to images as you import.


5. The new Vibrancy control lets you alter image saturation without affecting flesh tones.


6. The 2.1 update that was released last week adds a plug-in architecture so that developers can create their own Aperture plug-ins. An SDK will be released imminently.


7. Apple will be exhibiting at PMA Australia.

At just $269AUD, Aperture delivers plenty of bang for buck and is recommended for all dSLR users running a Mac.

 Aperture 2.0 • Apple • Image Management • Photography