When Adobe launched this kind of solution and when they made it compulsory in order to obtain the most recent version of their tools, some people warned that this was a major blow into the capacity to maintain a reliable capacity to work on our photos. Most either ignored the warning, downplayed its importance or or did not understand the full breadth of the risk. Today, the reality check is here; And it’s hurting real bad with thousands of professionnals waiting for the service to come back while trying to explain to their customers that nothing can be done until Adobe finds a solution (
I sympathize sincerely).

Of course, this suspended animation state is bad in itself (nobody missed that). But this is highlighting the issues at hand that were less obvious or more difficult to understand.

1. Unique/single failure point: If/when Adobe fails, we have no other option than wait. We are used to having a computer fail or a software stopping to work and -usually- it’s only (!) a matter of moving the DVD to a new PC, switching over to another workstation or another professional. Now, all Adobe customers fail in the same minute. This is a systemic risk like we are afraid of in the global bank system. No fall back option.
2. Opacity: The fact that Adobe Creative Cloud is far outside the scope of its users (except maybe some global-level customers who may have a direct line with Adobe management) makes it nearly impossible to have visibility. And in this kind of situation, we, the users, want/need to know immediately a/ what is happening, b/ what we can do to mitigate the situation (even if nothing is possible), c/ how/when the solution will be available. [And today, Adobe communication is an exemple… of what should not be done]

Is ease of subscription worht it? Is the flexibility of having always the latest release version at your hand worth it? This is anybody’s choice and the choice cannot be done for you. But, since we have some time on our hands (if your customers are not shooting on the phone right now), it’s time to think about our choices.

• A6000 User manual
• Manuel utilisateur Sony Alpha 6000 : indisponible pour le moment

Take advantage of this availability to discover all of its features.

And you can also check DPreview’s hands-on review of the Sony Alpha A6000.

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• Nikon D4s user manual (English)
• Manuel utilisateur Nikon D4s (français)
• Nikon D4s Manual del usuario (español)
• D4s network guide (English)
• D4s Guía de red (español)

According to SonyAlhaRumors (the web site which collects the more rumors, if not the most critical), there are several clear items:

• There will be a successor to the Sony Alpha 77
• It will be named A77-II
• It will have ultra-fast autofocus
• It will come in May 2014

Let’s step back a little and review these:

• Existence: The question was really open, but it appears that Sony is not ready to leave the DSLR market yet, even without a real Reflex chamber, or even if featuring an EVF.
• Name: Don’t listen too much to things that can easily change in the offices of Sony Marketing Department (even if time starts runnig short for a last-minute change).
• The A77 was impressive for its speed. Sony marketing must have pushed this advantage and the A77-II will have an improved-again A6000 autofocus system (already the fastest on the market), an EVF with a slightly improved lag (maybe), maybe-improved continuous shooting (here, to go over 10 fps, you need to pay for special mechanics, and the cost may not be OK for the A77-II price range).
• Date: There is always some fuzzy difference between announcement and availibility dates, but May 2014 launch is possible, depending on the credibility of the sources…

Don’t look for more technical details. For the last years, Sony succeeded in managing its “leaks”. Obviously, in most case, it’s not information theft, but “organized leaks” handled within a self-promotion campaign exploiting the Internet and some Internet web sites. If Sony did not let anything go, either they prepare a thunderous announcement, or they have to wait for after Summer…

Sony does not go into great details, but says that they are working on a correction for the issue (I would not like to be one of the engineers tasked with this). In the mean time, the owners would better be using soemthing to mask this part of the camera: gaffer tape, a large elastic rubber band, or elastic hair ties (as shown on BTC).

If Canon Imaging is still growing thanks to a strongly depreciated Yen (given by Mr. Abe), the total number of shipped parts is dropping (-21% from 2013). And the compact cameras are going through the floor (-28%). Interchangeable Lens Digital Cameras are a fuzzy category (including DSLR and others), but the results are relatively good with (only) a 7% loss in shipped quantities.

Based upon this, it’s no surprise that Canon may be re-considering the importance of staying in the entry market where the competition comes from Chinese-designed and -produced cameras at bargain basement prices and from smartphones as expensive as many cameras but available at all time in our pockets. There was no such official information, but it’s heard through the grapevine that the decision may laready have been taken to move out of the entry-level point-and-shoot cameras to concentrate on more high-end products.

What do I think about it? It would make sense and it would be very consistent with the overall marketing strategy of the big brands (starting with Canon, Nikon and Sony) which are trying to elevate the performance of their products (bigger, more expensive, more pro DSLR; sometimes, going all out for the retro-fashion like with the Nikon Df; bigger sensors with the Full Frame sensors on every camera including the smallest ones). One possibility would still be for Canon to sub-contract these difficult entry-level products to Chinese designers with only a Canon label on top of them (to keep a fake market presence).

It seems that the wide availability of the Nikon D610 (and its improved shutter mechanism able to reduce dust/pollution levels to normal) makes Nikon able to extend the replacement of faulty shutter mechanisms in all D600.

Customers just have to ask. This is right in the US, but it is not clear if this is applicable in other regions.

Update: This service is now offered by Nikon France (and all other Nikon subsidiaries too).
Details on Nikon Europe.

In a couple of minutes, I observed that I was able to recognize nearly everything and that, actually, I asnwered positively to 13 of the 16 questions.

And for you, how many? Are you a dinosaur like me?

Andrew Jackson was next and his picture was taken several times including the following daguerreotype, of 1845, a few months before his death:

Interestignly, it seems that Barack Obama was the very first President of the United States to replace the formal painted portrait with a (digital) photography.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art web site, John Q Adams’ image is a copy of a lost daguerreotype of Adams taken by Philip Haas in 1843.

Everything has already been told and written (you’ll find below a list of announcement papers in other blogs), except the price: A whooping 11769 US Dollar! Even a little higher than what was expected.

The first lenses will be available at the end of May, but Canon sources confirm that the quantity will be very limited at first.

• PetaPixel
• PhotoCritic
• Canon rumors
• DPreview

And the case is 649 US dollars more…