I’m late on the news, but it is still worth mentioning that Polaroid is no longer going to make film. Boston.com brought the news earlier in the week.

Polaroid Corp., the Massachusetts company that gave the world instant film photography, is shutting down its film manufacturing lines in the state and abandoning the technology that made the company famous.

I know many photo students try to grab up all the Polaroid film they can find anyways but now it will be even harder for the fun stuff to be found. So go dumpster diving or garage sale searching because it’s going to a tough time finding this stuff.

Remember that Canon 7d that was announced recently…wait neither do I. The Canon community has been sitting and waiting with baited breath since Nikon jumped the gun and released the D3 and D300. Both of which in my opinion took the cake for technology in recent camera releases. Canon released the 40d last year giving a much needed and well received refreshment to its prosumer line of cameras. But the lonely 5d hasn’t seen an upgrade in 3 years.PMA starts in 2 days and many are waiting to see if the fabled 5d MKII will actually happen or if the Canon faithful will have to wait even longer until Photokina later in the year. If it were an Apple product I could honestly weigh in with some knowledge but when it comes to photo gear the rumors are few and far between and lacking any credibility most of the time.We do know that a Canon 7D has been somewhat confirmed via a UPC (barcode) that was filed last year. So supposedly it could happen soon, but who knows. A recent forum posting (a can’t remember where I saw it) said that there would be no 5d MKII at PMA but something completely unexpected. The Photography Bay seems to confirm such a rumor via posting on DP review saying that the new camera will be above the 40d but below the 5d in terms of ability.If so then I might venture to guess a 1.3x crop sensor, 6400 ISO (or higher), 3 in. screen, 12+ MP, and possibly 6+ frames per second. Do any of those specs sound familiar? Of course they do….it’s a D300 competitor. Nikon’s D300 is a bang up camera with some astounding features and Canon needs to up the ante and make sure that people remember why they chose to invest in Canon.  So we’ll see in 2 days what Canon might have up their sleeve.

Well for all those Canon shooters out there Canon has rained down blessings on their faithful in January. Some pretty deep discounts await those who have some loan money or Christmas leftovers to spend on glass. The offer goes through Feb. 17.

Amazon Sale Page

• EF 85mm f/1.2L II
• EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS
• EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS
• EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II
• EF 50mm f/1.2L
• EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
• EF 70-200mm f/4L IS
• EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS
• EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
• EF 17-40mm f/4L
• EF 70-200mm f/4L
• EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
• EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro
• EF 85mm f/1.8
• EF 50mm f/1.4
• Speelight 580 EX II

So if you’re in need of some new shiny glass for your trusty Canon go ahead an fire up your credit cards. But remember that PMA is in just a few weeks and could release some even better stuff.

Found via Photography Bay and Crunch Gear

Canon has said that that pesky problem of the EOS-1D Mark III has been fixed…sort of. According to Rob Galbraith who over the past 6 months has helped to actually test possible fixes the problem has been resolved. The reason for the “sort of” is that it means that the camera has to be modded by Canon. They’re calling it the sub-mirror fix.

This issue pertained to how the camera handled focusing in hot conditions. When being used in the heat the shutter box heated up bringing the number of in-focus frames down to about 5 or 6 out of 20. Which for most professionals is unacceptable. Now the with a combination sub-mirror fix and firmware upgrade the number of in-focus frames in the heat is the same as in the cold (I don’t know how many in-focus frames there were in the cold).

Despite saying the problem is been reduced Galbraith still says that the AF is not the same as on the Mark II N. So if you happened to stop eating ramen or trade in your Big Red Bucks for a Mark III you might want to give Canon a call and get that shutter fixed before school starts.

Also galleries showcasing the images shot during Galbraith’s testing in Arizona.

Article Link

Ridata maker of some of the cheapest and fastest CF cards has introduced an old technology to a new medium. They’ve taken the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) and implemented it into compact flash technology.
Many laptops (all new Macs) have SMART technology that monitors hard drives and helps to warn against imminent failure of drives. The press release does not say cost or release though it does state the technology will be available on their Supreme and Lightning series of memory. Also it doesn’t say how users will be notified if a drive is failing.

So maybe now there will be a little warning before a CF fails.

More than once I’ve shot all day and got back to the computer and found out for some reason the pictures were gone. Immediately my stomach is flipped over and started tap dancing on my spleen in fear that the image that got me all excited two hours earlier is now lost in the limbo of 1’s and 0’s on that tiny card that appears to be empty in the card reader. Now only the camera gods can bring it back.
Now I’ve heard of different programs that can bring things back, but there are many many choices. I personally don’t use a “photo” specific program but instead one actually meant for dead hard drives. The good news is that I’ve never lost a single photo to a corrupt card. No matter the situation I’ve brought it all back from the dead in a very Lazarus type fashion, I tell the computer to “bring those pictures back from the dead and they comply.”

I personally only have experience with Prosoft’s Data Rescue II ($99) which has brought many hard drives and CF cards back from the dead. But on a college budget $99 is steep unless you know your pulitzer is on that CF.

(Note I have not tested any of the below software)

Users at Macupdate.com gave Card Raider 2.0 ($19.95) for Mac good reviews for bringing those pictures back from the grave.

A little googling yields MediaRECOVER ($29.95) which caters to both Windows and Mac users.

Last, Photorescue by DataRescue comes in with 3 options Wizard, Expert, and Advanced coming in at $29, $29, and $99 respectively.