Photographers Matt Kloskowski and Scott Kelby have a new website which will air a weekly show about Nikon gear and Nikon related photography tips. This is a little strange, if only because it seems like one big advertisement for Nikon… and basically, that’s what it is – because the site is in fact sponsored by Nikon. Still, all information is good information, and these guys are giving it away. So what if they make me want to buy that D700 in the process?

While we all love Nikon (except for those who don’t, for some reason) it’s clear that DTOWN will focus mostly on gear, which is fine – as long as you don’t expect too many DIY tips or third party gear tutorials.

What I would love to see is a show like this one, but unsponsored – an independent photography studio just talking about the tricks of the trade. I love studio photography, but have only been exposed to it in school – so that kind of insight would be really welcome. The problem with most photographers these days is that most pro’s don’t like to discuss their tricks, methods, and workflow – because that’s their livelihood, and they would rather keep it to themselves. In my vast exposure to the photography community, if I’ve discovered anything it’s that the photography community is fairly insular. That’s changing though, mostly thanks to the internet and attemps like DTOWN.

• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Beta 2 is out now, and I’ve had a chance to play with it. It’s got some really nice new features and a few interface changes. You can download the Lightroom 2 Beta yourself, if you want.
• Do you like quick access to your camera? Do you like westerns? If so, you may like the camera holster. If you own a Canon Rebel XTi or a Nikon D40, D40x, D60, D200, or D300 – you’re in luck! Grab your leather camera holster today!
• If you’re still on the fence about whether to keep your photos in their native RAW form or to convert them to DNG files, you may want to inspect this article.
• If you haven’t heard already, Flickr now does video.
• Depth of Field… if you’re like me, you love being able to achieve a narrow depth of field, but it can be tricky with slower lenses, which is why a handy DOF calculator is required. Here’s a good online DOF calc.
• There are 16 days left to contribute to issue 17 of JPG Magazine.

• RadioPoppers – they’re real, and David Hobby of the Strobist blog gets a little hands on time with the creator of the devices, Kevin King. Check it out.
• You enjoy photography, but do you ever wonder if you should go pro? Here are seven signs, according to Photopreneur, that you should.
• There are some great tips at Photocritic about model photo shoots – but from the models perspective, including practical concerns such as wardrobe, makeup, and skin care.
• There are 10 days left to contribute to issue 16 of JPG Magazine.

• A new patent, described in detail over at Gizmodo, would allow DSLR cameras to shoot video like their point-and-shoot cousins.
• DPReview has a review of the new Olympus E-3 EVOLT.
• There are 38 days left to contribute to issue 16 of JPG Magazine.

• It’s a sad day – and we should say a moment for Polaroid film. The photo company is closing their instant film factories, and after next year, it will be impossible to buy.
• Interesting article on Canon repair estimates, and what you can expect if you have a damaged camera.
• Loosing pictures sucks, and backing up sucks too. The Lightroom-Blog explains the process for automating a catalog backup in Adobe Lightroom.
• There are 52 days left to contribute to issue 16 of JPG Magazine.

• Sony has decided that their new 25-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor should be used in one of their DSLR’s first, and Gizmodo has a picture of it. The full-frame contenders so far are Canon and Nikon, so Sony is hoping to keep people interested in their SLR’s by joining the full size club.
• Lifehacker has a quick and dirty (and cheap!) way to make a DIY camera stabilizer to help smooth your shooting experience.
• Jobo is a German company that has a GPS enabled hotshoe adapter that will record latitude/longitude information for every shot you take. DPReview has some pictures of it from PMA.
• There are 6 days left to contribute to issue 15 of JPG Magazine.

• Rob Galbraith has a great article outlining the newly announced PocketWizard Multimax wireless flash adapter, which sports a brand new USB plug.
• Gizmodo has an article about the Flying Stick Camera, which lets you spin it up into the air like the old wooden helicopter sticks, except this stick is actualy a camera which takes shots at set intervals before it comes back down. Cool idea.
• Pro Photographer Mag gives us a simplified HDR technique.
• PMA `08 starts this coming Thursday – and we should see plenty of new announcements of cool gizmos and gear. Fotohacker unfortunately won’t be attending the show, and we can’t cover everything – but we’ll report on the best of the best as the information becomes available.
• There are 13 days left to contribute to issue 15 of JPG Magazine.

Here are some of the bigger “learning center” sites from the major manufacturers. Some are better than others. I particularly like the EOS portion of the Canon site, and the Flickr portion of the Nikon Learning Center. The Kodak site is also pretty extensive.

• Canon Digital Learning Center
• Nikon SLR Learning Center
  Nikon Digitutor
• Pentax: Taking Better Photos
• Olympus Learning Center
• Sony Learning Center
• Kodak Digital Learning Center

• PMA `08 is only 11 days away! It will be held January 31 through February 2 in Las Vegas. Fotohacker wishes it could blog the event live for you, but unfortunately – we’re unable. Still, we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears open during the whole thing for cool news.
• Eye-Fi has enhanced it’s Mac compatibility. Visit the Eye-Fi support site for more.
• onOne Software has acquired a new image resizing and retargeting technology called Liquid Resize, and you can see the video of the technology in action here. Very impressive.
• Harry Nowell talks about the power of big apertures in his article The Power Of 1.8!
• There are 20 days left to contribute to issue 15 of JPG Magazine.

• Adobe has made the latest version of Photoshop Elements available for the Mac, priced at $89.99, and yes, it is fully compatible with Leopard.
• Joe McNally is a pro photographer who has worked for various publications from Life to Time to National Geographic and others. He’s a fanatic of shooting with flash, and shoots all sorts of different subject matter in all different styles. Now Joe has a Youtube channel. Check out his videos here.
• Samsung has teamed up with Pentax and dropped the 14.6 megapixel GX-20 Digital SLR at this year’s CES conference. See more at Engadget.
• Herbert Keppler passed away this past week. Keppler was a giant of photography, having spent years with Modern Photography and later with Popular Photography, who ran this memoriam.
• There are 26 days left to contribute to issue 15 of JPG Magazine.

• Popular Photography has a great article online which covers shooting infrared in the digital age.
• Strobist blogger David Hobby uses the classic PJ film Under Fire to deliver a message about emotional attachment to your photos. A clever article.
• If you happen to be flying into, out of, or around the United States in a commercial airliner, be aware that several changes have been made in regards to stowing loose lithium ion batteries. This will likely effect most traveling photographers, so you should check out this article.
• 101NoisyCameras has an article on the rumours behind two new Pentax digital SLR cameras to be announced this month.
• There are 33 days left to contribute to issue 15 of JPG Magazine.

• 640pixels.com has 5 Amazing Film Effects you can achieve through Photoshop.
• Nikon may have a new camera on its way in the Spring of 2008 – the D40x replacement D60. You can find out a little more over at Gizmodo.
• Speaking of Nikon, they haven’t forgotten about the Mac Leopard community. They’ve released a Leopard compatible update for Nikon Capture NX and have a Nikon Scan update on the way for your film scanner users.
• Speaking of Leopard, the Lightroom team’s blog has an article on printing from Lightroom under Leopard.
• There are 40 days left to contribute to issue 15 of JPG Magazine.

• The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) intends to testify before the house in opposition of proposed changes in U.S. National Parks and Wildlife Refuges regulations which would restrict photography in these areas.
• If you’re an Adobe Lightroom addict like me, you’ll appreciate this one – 28 Great Adobe Lightroom Resources, courtesy of Photographybay.com. It’s about half online resources, and half book recommendations.
• Bibble 4.9.9 update was released which adds some more RAW support for various cameras, as well as the ability to now tether Nikon cameras to Intel based Mac systems (and apparently those running Leopard).
• The new Nikon D300 is a tank when it comes to surviving extreme conditions! Check out this field test by pro photographer Jan Vermeer as he takes the D300 to Antartica and puts it through it’s paces.  
• Capture One 4, the next version of the popular RAW software, was released this week. It sports a brand new interface and underlying architecture.
• In to trying something a little different with your photo editing? Online photo editors are popping up everywhere these days. Though I don’t expect I’d ever use one for serious photo work, they’re handy when you’re on the go. Check out Picnik, FotoFlexer, and Cellsea.
• There are 47 days left to contribute to issue 15 of JPG Magazine.

• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom was updated to v1.3.1 this past week, which include several bug fixes for things introduced in 1.3, mostly on Mac OSX Leopard. Mac and Windows version available.
• Chase Jarvis is a pro photographer who seems to like making videos that exhibit his tremendous amounts of gear (which is usually all very expensive), but I love his commentary – and he’s a great photographer. Here’s a neat video about packing your photo gear.
• Flickr Uploadr v3.0 is now available. From the Flickr blog “Version 3.0 lets you work offline while adding and organizing your photos. When you’re ready, you can click Sign In and you’ll be taken to Flickr to finish up. When you get back, you’re all set and Uploadr will remember your account for next time.” Download the new Uploadr here. Also – Flickr now has Stats, so you can track which photos are your most popular. Activate yours now.
• There are 54 days left to contribute to issue 15 of JPG Magazine.

• Adobe has released their Camera Raw plugin v4.3.1 (Mac & Windows) which adds support for the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, the Canon Powershot G9, the Nikon D3 and D300, the Olympus E-3 and SP-560 UZ, and the Panasonic DMC-L10.
• We covered the ten camera bag essentials for location photography a little while back, but we’ve found some other great ideas over here for more general goodies to include in your bag.
• Flickr has added some editing features, in partnership with a service called Picnik. More info at their blog.
• DXO Optics Pro 5 is now available.
• Here’s a great Softar filter effect that you can try out in Photoshop to get that dreamy, soft quality.
• Submissions to contribute to issue 14 of JPG Magazine are closed, and submissions for issue 15 are beginning now.