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New from Backdrop Outlet
Attention, portrait photographers—Backdrop Outlet has introduced a line
of affordable, quality canvas backgrounds. There are hundreds of styles, ranging
from “Old Master” to Scenics, at a fraction of the price of many
canvas backdrops. Available sizes are 6x8, 8x10, and 10x20 feet. Backdrop Outlet,
2215 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60616; 800/466-1755. www.backdropoutlet.com.
Pentax Digital SLR
The new Pentax *ist D is a digital SLR with 6.1 effective megapixels, a pentaprism
viewfinder, and a 1.8-inch LCD monitor. It accepts a wide range of Pentax lenses,
including the new wide-angle FA J Zoom 18–35mm f/4–5.6 AL. The *ist
D is compact and lightweight (it measures 5x3.7x2.3 inches and weighs only 18
ounces without batteries). Other features include a 16-segment metering system,
11-point AF sensor, 1¼4000-second top shutter speed with flash sync up
to 1¼150, continuous shooting at approximately 2.7 fps, compatibility
with Microdrive and CompactFlash Type I/II cards, and a choice of JPEG, TIFF,
and RAW recording formats. Pentax USA, Inc., 35 Inverness Dr. East, Englewood,
CO 80155; 303/799-8000. www.pentaxdigital.com.
Light Shaper from Profoto
To meet the increasingly popular demand for hard, crisp studio lighting, Profoto
has introduced the Hardbox. As a counterpart to softboxes, the Hardbox is a
unique light-shaping tool that reduces the size of the light source to a minimum
to create very crisp, direct light with defined shadows and great detail resolution.
It’s compatible with all existing Profoto flash heads. The Hardbox eliminates
stray light, offering control even in very narrow studios, and can deliver high
contrast at short distances. For even greater light control, you can use the
5°, 10°, and 20° grids and barndoors made for the Standard Zoom
Reflector. Mamiya America Corp., 8 Westchester Plaza, Elmsford, NY 10523; 914/347-3300.
www.profoto-usa.com.
Minolta DiMAGE Messenger
Minolta’s new DiMAGE Messenger is a Windows-based imaging application
with the ability to append one or more text comments to digital-image files.
Each comment includes text, the time and date that the comment was created,
and a red bounding box that marks specific portions of the image. Messenger
has three windows. Images are loaded into the upper left-hand window, where
particular sections can be marked with the bounding box. Text, applicable to
each selected area, can then be input in the lower left-hand window. The entire
right-hand side of the application is used to select and view previously made
comments. Messenger includes e-mail support and color management, and accepts
nearly all TIFF, BMP and JPEG files. Minolta Corp., 101 Williams Dr., Ramsey,
NJ 07446; 201/825-4000. www.minoltausa.com.
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