When picking up equipment at a photo rental company DO NOT park your mini-van between 2 signs that read "No Standing anytime" Especially when you have the mini-van packed with equipment for the days shoot that includes a laptop with the previous days image files and all of the audio gear that your going to be using on the shoot today. Always leave a photo assistant or better yet leave the photographer sitting in the car so that your mini-van and equipment don't get towed away. I just saw this happen on 22 Street here in NYC.

Adobe delivered the next update to its suite of applications. The launch date has been announced: We can expect Adobe CS5 on Monday, April 12, at 8 am PT, 11 am ET.

http://cs5launch.adobe.com/

Leaf is pleased to announce the release of an update to its highly acclaimed Leaf Capture software. Leaf Capture 11.2.7 delivers improvements for Leaf’s latest digital back and camera models, the AFi-II 10 and Aptus-II 10, offering an extended ISO range and improved shooting burst speeds.

Of special note, is Leaf’s new ‘Lens Calibration’ feature, which allows Leaf AFi-II 10 and Aptus-II 10 users to create their own custom lens calibration files for any lens they have.  These calibration files ‘describe’ certain characteristics of the lens so that photographers can obtain the absolute best image quality available. 

For Leaf AFi-II 10 and Aptus-II 10 customers who do not wish to go to the extent of making their own custom lens calibration files, Leaf provides a separate CD, which contains factory defined lens calibration files for some of the most commonly used lenses.  These files are customized and tested individually for each sensor.

Leaf Capture 11.2.7 can be downloaded here: http://www.LeafAmerica.com

There have been a few discussions in other photo groups and forums concerning the archiving of film and the possible degradation over time.

Having worked in photo processing labs for more than 10 years back in the 80's   and 90's I came to find that there is/was a huge difference in the manor that a customer’s film was handled or processed.

Regardless of whether you took your film to a 1 hour mini lab, a professional photo lab using a dip and dunk system or one of the many bulk film developing companies around the country that would run miles of film through a continues film line; it all comes down to the quality control that each lab implemented

As some of you may recall back in 1989', Kodak tried to implement a Kodak Certified Processing certification associated with a number of labs.

This entailed mixing the chemistry to exacting standards and even checking the specific gravity of each batch for process such as Ciba-Chrome and E-6 or color reversal film. In addition each film processing machine would have film test strip run every 4 hours.

That lasted for all of 12 months before the photo labs decided that the extra expense of following such a stringent model was not cost effective.

What you could expect from the better photo labs that ran Colenta or Hostert dip and dunk machines was Kodak chemistry that was mixed to specs and added daily to the 50 gallon replenishment reservoir that fed each processors replenishment system, and were triggered as each new rack of film was loaded into the machine.

When these systems were properly monitored they ran flawlessly and the systems ran a steady line. Meaning that the test strips run 3 times a day never moved more than 5-7 points above or below the recommended base line, resulting in perfectly processed film that was theoretically completely archival and as Kodak claimed; would remain stable for more than 100 years.

However there was a not so pretty reality.

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Leaf Capture v. 11.2.0.2 resolves the issue of occasional appearance of colored dots in some Leaf Capture v11.2 images taken with Leaf AFi and AFi-II camera systems, and Leaf Aptus-II camera backs.

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When we created the PhotoShelter Collection, we aimed to change the face of the stock photography industry by fundamentally altering the dynamics of how photographers were treated, and in turn, providing visual diversity to buyers that simply didn't exist. Tens of thousands of photographers from over 130 countries signed up and started uploading their images to PhotoShelter, and the buyers have followed. Each month we have stolen sales with major clients away from Getty and have become an increasingly large thorn in their side.

So it's a flattering to hear that Getty Images is validating our approach and recognizing our success by reaching into the flickr community.  No other competitor in their history has forced Getty to change their model. This is a great sign of encouragement for us. Getty's CEO Jonathan Klein describes this new endeavor as "the best imagery from a fresh collection of high-quality images chosen by us from Flickr's diverse and prolific community." If it sounds familiar, it should be, something very similar is printed on our homepage.

But rather than compare lexicon, let's clarify some of the key points and differences of this announcement.
Klein stated in a Seattle Times piece that the deal "for us is not significant, but it's strategically extremely important." Flickr GM Kakul Srivastava corroborated this by saying, "From our perspective, on the Flickr side, we're not expecting this will be a huge stream of monetization for our members...The relationship, in the licensing piece, is purely between the photographer - the Flickr member - and Getty Images itself."
So, if it's not really about making money, what is it about? Why would the market leader (which is now held by a private equity firm whose sole goal is to make money) strike a deal in such a public fashion if they didn't intend for it to make money? Why would flickr consent to not taking a transaction fee? What is of such "strategic importance" to Klein?
The answer is in Getty's historical moves. It's about locking out competition from the industry to ensure a continued, virtual monopoly. Getty pays flickr for an "exclusive" deal to be their preferred stock content distributor because they are threatened by an open platform like PhotoShelter. Consider that if PhotoShelter succeeds, not only does Getty lose market share, but they invariably will have to give back more of the profits to photographers because they will need to compete for content.

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As pointed out in this forums post by Matt

http://forums.1prophoto.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000283

Many people are having difficulty traveling with spare rechargable batteries.

Effective January 1, 2008, the following rules apply to the spare lithium batteries you carry with you in case the battery in a device runs low:

• Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately from the devices they power. When batteries are installed in a device, they are not considered spare batteries.
• You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage
• You may bring spare lithium batteries with you in carry-on baggage – see our spare battery tips and how-to sections to find out how to pack spare batteries safely!
• Even though we recommend carrying your devices with you in carry-on baggage as well, if you must bring one in checked baggage, you may check it with the batteries installed.

You can read the whole story here:  http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html

 Looks like FedEx will be very busy shipping batteries in the near future.