Epson's New P-6000 and P-7000

Epson announced two new generation multimedia photo viewers designed with photographers in mind. The P-6000 and the P-7000 offer photographers the opportunity to download and view their photos on a 4-inch, 640x480 (VGA) resolution LCD screen.

The hard drive capacities are 80GB (P-6000) and 160GB (P-7000), and both come with a 4-inch LCD with new, exclusive Epson Photo Fine Premia technology, which displays over 16.7 million colors, encompassing 94 percent of Adobe RGB color space for superior color accuracy. Epson claims that these new models have faster download speed , of up to 35 percent faster than previous ones. Also included is a zoom function for closer inspection of images, and RAW and JPEG file support.

The new models will be available in September for an estimated street price of $599.99 (P-6000) and $799.99 (P-7000)

I'm not yet sure whether these models' new improvements over my P-4000 warrant the price, but it's an item that I might eventually pencil in on my Santa's list.

David DuChemin on his Pixelated Image blog has just written about three backup harddrive/viewers which include the Epson P7000, and tells us that he chose the Hyperdrive Colorspace O.

My thanks to Bob Krist, the legendary travel photographer, who emailed me making the important point that the newer models of the Epsons have the ability to back up onto another USB device (like a small hard drive). However, a FAT 32 formatted USB harddrive, and a small AC Adapter for the hard drive, are needed. This setup could mitigate the need for a laptop.

Bob has also written an article on this very topic in Outdoor Photographer.

National Geo's International Photo Contest

I must've been asleep at the switch since I had forgotten about the 2008 National Geographic's International Photo Contest. The contest is open only to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, United Kingdom, Canada (excluding the province of Quebec), Australia, Republic of Ireland, India, South Africa, and New Zealand.

The Categories for entries are: (1) People, (2) Places, and (3) Nature. National Geographic's lawyers must've had fun preparing the legal documents required from contestants, including PDFs of Personal Release, Artist's Release and Location Release. Sarcasm aside, these are useful documents to have just in case one needs them whether entering the contest or not, and are available from the contest's Rules section.

Note: As a general comment, and as in the case of all similar contests, make sure you carefully read the terms and conditions, especially since misunderstandings between organizers and contestants can sometimes occur.

Photographers in Focus: Colin Finlay

The monthly Photographers in Focus video interviews by LiveBooks feature photographers who share their personal vision, inspiration and beliefs. According to LiveBooks, these "enrich the photo community by providing a means for one photographer to share knowledge with others."

This month’s interview is with documentary photographer and photojournalist Colin Finlay.

A self-taught photographer, Colin Finlay is a four-time “Picture of the Year” award winner who has photographed wars, conflicts, genocide, famine, environmental issues, disappearing traditions, and has filmed several television documentaries. He’s circled the globe 27 times seeking compelling images that make a difference. When doing photojournalism, he often shoots with two camera bodies, using a 28mm lens on one and a 35mm lens on the other. He uses a Canon 1DS Mark II lately, along with Canon EF lenses, 35mm f/1.4L, 50mm f/1.2L, 24mm f/1.4L, and occasionally a tilt-shift lens.

However, he maintains, “the 35mm f/1.4L is how I see the world.”