TIPA awards 2014

The Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) just announced the winners of their annual awards. Each year TIPA chooses the best products of the last twelve months in 40 photography related categories.

Below is the list of the winners in each category. More information on the winning products can be found on the TIPA website.

TIPA awards 2014

Best Mobile Photo App	Photosmith 3
Best Imaging Innovation	Canon Dual Pixel CMOS AF
Best Professional DSLR Lens	Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x
Best Digital SLR Advanced	Canon EOS 70D
Best Expert Compact Camera	Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II
Best CSC Prime Lens	ZEISS Touit series
Best Imaging Software	DxO ViewPoint 2
Best CSC Expert	FUJIFILM X-T1
Best CSC Expert Lens	FUJINON XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
Best Inkjet Photo Paper	Hahnemühle Photo Silk Baryta 310
Best Photo Monitor	LG 21:9 UltraWide 34UM95
Best Photo Tv	LG ULTRA HD TV (UB980 series)
Best Tripod	Manfrotto New 190 collection
Best Rugged Compact Camera	Nikon 1 AW1
Best Digital SLR Entry Level	Nikon D3300
Best Digital SLR Professional	Nikon D4S
Best Premium Camera	Nikon Df
Best Portable Lighting System	Nissin i40
Best CSC Entry Level Lens	Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ
Best CSC Entry Level	Olympus OM-D E-M10
Best Hybrid Photo/Video Camera	Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH4
Best Superzoom Camera	Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ60 / ZS40
Best Medium Format Camera	Phase One IQ250
Best Professional Lighting System	Profoto B1 Off-Camera Flash
Best Digital SLR Expert	Pentax K-3
Best CSC Advanced	Samsung NX30
Best Easy Compact Camera	Samsung WB50F
Best Accessory	SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive
Best Storage Media	SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC/SDXC UHS-II Memory Card
Best Photo Projector	Epson EH-TW7200
Best Photo Printer	Epson Expression Photo XP-950
Best Entry Level DSLR Lens	SIGMA 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM
Best Design	SIGMA dp Quattro
Best Photo Service	SIGMA Mount Conversion Service
Best ActionCam	Sony Action Cam HDR-AS100V
Best CSC Professional	Sony Alpha 7R
Best Camcorder	Sony FDR-AX100
Best Mobile Imaging Device	Sony QX series
Best Expert DSLR Lens	Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD
Best Photo Bag	Thule Perspektiv series

Nikon D4s firmware update

Nikon published another firmware update, this time for its new flagship camera, the D4s. This new C 1.01 firmware fixes some important issues so I would recommend it to everyone lucky enough to own a D4s.

The firmware can be downloaded from the Nikon support sites: EU / USA

Updates in firmware C 1.01:

• When Custom Setting f1 (Multi selector center button) > Playback mode was set to View histograms, the histogram was not displayed correctly for the image played back in the monitor, even when the center button on the multi selector was pressed, when the following conditions were met. This issue has been resolved.
  - Image quality was set to NEF (RAW) + JPEG fine, NEF (RAW) + JPEG normal, or NEF (RAW) + JPEG basic.
  - An option other than "Overview data" or "RGB histogram" was selected for photo information displayed with full-frame image playback.
• With full-frame image playback with "Highlights" or "RGB histogram" display selected, image chroma (saturation) changed with flashing of highlights. This issue has been resolved.
• When images captured with Color space set to Adobe RGB were enlarged with playback in the monitor, image chroma (saturation) changed. This issue has been resolved.
• When Rotate tall in the playback menu was set to On, and an image captured in "tall" (portrait) orientation was enlarged slightly (playback zoom-in button pressed once or twice) with monitor playback, the image did not appear to be very sharp or clear. This issue has been resolved.
• With capture of a Compressed RAW image, followed by a Lossless compressed RAW image, with Image quality set to NEF (RAW), the camera was sometimes unable to correctly record the second RAW image. This issue has been resolved. 

Nikon mount adapter FT1 firmware update

The Nikon Mount Adapter FT1 allows the use of Nikon DSLR lenses in combination with Nikon 1 mirror-less cameras. If you own one of the new Nikon 1 J4 or Nikon 1 V3 cameras, the new L 1.20 firmware update should be applied as it enables autofocus with these cameras (this is also the only fix in this firmware update).

The update can be downloaded from the Nikon support sites: EU / USA

Nikon releases CaptureNX2 2.4.7

Even though the new Capture NX-D will replace NX2 soon – see my earlier article on workflow considerations and why NX-D is actually not a (good) replacement of NX2 – Nikon has still lived up to its promise to keep NX2 up to date as long as NX-D is in beta.

You can download the update from the Nikon support websites: EU / USA

Changes in v2.4.7

• Support for RAW images captured with the Nikon 1 V3, and Nikon 1 J4 has been added.
• Auto distortion control was not applied to images captured with some cameras, and Auto Distortion in the Camera & Lens Corrections section of the Edit List palette was not displayed.
• When RAW images captured with some cameras and saved using Capture NX 2 Ver. 2.4.5 or earlier were opened, white balance effects sometimes changed.
• Support for Windows XP has been eliminated.

Nikon releases ViewNX 2.9.2

Nikon has just released version 2.9.2 of its all-in-one image browsing and editing software application.

You can download the new version from the Nikon support website: EU / USA

Changes in v2.9.2

• Support for the Nikon 1 V3, Nikon 1 J4, and COOLPIX S810c has been added.
• Support for Windows XP has been eliminated.

Adobe updates Lightroom, Camera Raw (Photoshop CS6 and CC) and DNG Converter

Adobe has released version 5.4 of Lightroom and version 8.4 of Adobe Camera Raw (for Photoshop CS6 and CC) and the DNG Converter applications.

The new version of Camera Raw fixes a number of issues and adds support for additional cameras and lenses. With version 5.4 of Lightroom there is now also an iPad version available. This new Lightroom Mobile synchronises your images with the desktop version and offers some (albeit limited) editing capabilities. Great for showcasing your work on the road and to perform some quick edits. The files used by Lightroom Mobile are actually the new smart previews that were introduced with LR5, meaning that your edits actually do get propagated to your (raw) images on your desktop computer as well, even on raw files!

Please note that if you're still on Windows XP or Vista or Mac OS X 10.6, you're out of luck; the new versions of the software do not supported on those platforms any longer.
Also note that not all functionality of the new ACR is available in Photoshop CS6, for full functionality you'll need Photoshop CC. A subscription to the CC program is required for Lightoom Mobile.

Use the update mechanism as provided in Photoshop to update to the latest version of ACR.
DNG converter 8.4 can be downloaded from the Adobe website: Mac / Windows.
Lightroom 5.4 can be downloaded from the Adobe website as well: Mac / Windows.