Rich Trenholm
Rich Trenholm writes about digital cameras, except when he's writing about films, music and comics. He does not drink tea and never has.
Next: Thanks for the memory. No really, thanks
Previous: Sing loud, sing Proud
Monday 10 September 2007, 12:37pm
What happens in Vegas...
Reviewing cameras may be the day job, but the digital photography experience is more than just hardware. The old saw about digital photography is that pictures stay locked up on memory cards and never printed or viewed. But it doesn't have to be this way.
I use Picasa at work, which makes capturing, viewing and editing photos a snap. At home, the new iPhoto is getting fired up when eBuyer delivers the extra RAM my creaky but beloved iMac G4 needs.
Great as these programs are for viewing the many, many pictures of polar bears and periodic tables I take while testing cameras, they don't really get any more exciting. I am excited about Vegas, a movie-editing program that supports all kinds of media formats, including stills.
Vegas works on the familiar timeline interface, and allows you to drag and drop images or video footage into your project. Sony recently brought in video mash-up gurus Eclectic Method to demo Vegas, and their enthusiasm for the product was certainly infectious. Eclectic Method's 'Cutswift' (not what his mum calls him, I'm guessing) loves Vegas so much, he watches all his movies in the program so he can clip out cool stuff for later use, as a kind of visual sample library.
The key to their sound and vision shenanigans is the beatmapping feature in Sony's music program Acid Music, which works out the beats per minute of any sound clip, so they can create a complementary visual rhythm in Vegas. I've been playing with it, er, testing it over the weekend and I'm hooked.
On the photo side, you can match stills to music, to create super-powered slideshows with the images and soundtrack beautifully integrated. Fun and productive, and only £45.
Articles by Rich Trenholm
The best touchscreen cameras
Round-up Whether you have delicate and long stem-like fingers or short and stout sausage fingers, touchscreens are the wave of the future. Find out which digital camera touchscreen is right for you
Creative Vado goes HD, hungover Cravers muster limited excitement
Crave If you must get excited about the arrival of the new high-definition Creative Vado, do it quietly. Crave is feeling slightly fragile this morning
Internet: The Movie!
Photo Films and the Web have gone hand-in-hand since the first pirate sneaked into the mutleyplex. But what would films based on your favourite sites and software look like? Crave calls lights... camera... action!
Hands-on the Hitachi DZ-HV564: HD on SD
Photo The camcorder market doesn't know if it's coming or going, with the Hitachi DZ-HV564 parachuting in to combine high definition with expandable memory
Hands-on with the Samsung NV9: Cooler King
Photo There's a number of nifty touches on the slinky 10-megapixel Samsung NV9 that make it cooler than the average compact
Hands on with the 24-megapixel Nikon D3X
Photo We've had our hands on the 24-megapixel behemoth that is the Nikon D3X, and we're impressed. Take a look at our photos, which show an average Crave reader doing some world-class holding
Canon HG21
Review Our main issue with the HG21, Canon's high-class, high-definition camcorder, is that it may be too good for its own good. Now that should tell you something. The HG21 comes with a whopping 120GB hard drive, a vast array of high-end features and produces video that is absolutely breathtaking. If you think you can make use of it all, this one's a winner
Hands-on with the Fujifilm FinePix Z200fd
Photo December is officially here and that can mean only one thing: shop faster! If you're feeling the pinch, the Fujifilm FinePix Z200fd is a stylish 10-megapixel point-and-shoot for a very reasonable price. Now shop!
