Mirage Print Software
This review is the first of many on the Mirage Print Software. After six months of working with the software we can say we love it. We wanted to display the contrast between using the traditional Photoshop and Epson driver method compared to the Mirage software, we think you’ll be impressed. It does everything printer software should and more. Stay tuned for the next installment of the Mirage reviews.
Team TV Mirage Print Software Review from Team Digital on Vimeo.
Team Digital is now stocking the “The Ice Light”.
The Ice Light is the first ever easily-handheld LED daylight light source. Designed by award-winning photographer and lecturer, Jerry Ghionis, the Ice Light offers the ability to shoot and light in tandem without the need of heavy light stands or additional mounting systems.
Cutting-Edge Technology.
The Ice Light features the latest Lithium Ion battery technology and can be run both AC or DC power. Batteries are built into the lightweight 590grams, and can run for 60 minutes at full power. Fast charge times are less than 2.5 hours. Plug the Ice Light into any standard power outlet and run continuously (all while charging the unit).
Soft, Even Daylight Color.
The LED array combined with the diffused front face offers an extremely soft and evenly wrap-around light source. This eliminates the need for additional light modifying tools. Lamps are true daylight color and rated for over 50,000 hours of use.
Perfect for Travel.
The ergonomic design allows for single-handed operation and requires no additional mounting accessories. Both ends of the Ice Light incorporate a 1/4-20-thread with the option of mounting to a light stand, tilt bracket or mini tripod. The included carry case with shoulder and belt strap make going on-location a breeze. The Ice Light fits inside most regulation carry-on luggage. Multi voltage 100-240v allows for adaptability when traveling internationally.
All-in-One Solution.
Attach a gel using the included gel clips to easily go from Daylight to Tungsten or add color for more dramatic results. The Ice Light includes the battery charger/power cord, 2 gel clips and carry case. Patent pending.
We got together with the guys from POP HD to put together this video review on the Manfrotto Sympla video rigs. This is a beautifully designed system that is extremely functional. Beyond the mounting rigs and matte box which are great. The Sympla system has a remote control that controls focus and few other functions of the camera. This allows us move focus as we are shooting without the need for expensive, bulky follow focus rigs. It also means you can steady the camera with two hands unlike other rigs. Also we mention in the video, the new focus control is only available for Canon we can confirm that the Nikon version should be available be the end of this year.
We believe this is going to change the way you think and shoot with DSLR. Team will have the complete Sympla range in next week. And we will be adding a few rigs to our rental dept. So you can try before you buy.
TEAM DIGITAL Manfrotto Sympla Review by PopHD from julian masters on Vimeo.
At the start we must say that we are very impressed with the Leadpower LP-750, as far as being a great universal portable power source. What the LP-750 isn’t is a replacement for the Elinchrom Ranger systems. It doesn’t offer the same functionality that these dedicated systems offer.
That being said we believe it does solve a lot of problems, that Photographers have when working on location. The obvious advantage is that it can power and number of different devices, from laptops through to wind machines. The correct term for the LP-750 system is a Portable Power Inverter, it has a continuous output 750W and peaks at 1400W . The rechargeable battery is a 9000mA NI-MH which is rated for around 500 recharges. The battery is removable so it is easy to replace, which also means that you can get more batteries if you need more capacity. It simply a matter of replacing them, as you run the batteries down. The batteries can also be charged independently, the kit comes complete with AC charger and a DC charger making it possible to charge the batteries from a car connection.
Its portable and compact weighing in at just under 6 kg and unit itself measures 25cm x 17cm x 25cm. A handy waterproof carry case comes complete with the kit. The fact that you have 3 outlets available also make it possible to run or charge multiple devices at the same time. The unit is safe and reliable and is protected against overload, short circuit, high voltage input or power surge, overheating and inverse external connection. The robust engineered casing protects both the user and the components from harm.
Our results were not as good as some of the figures quoted on the web. We could put this down to the fact that the unit we tested was a demonstration kit. We could not guarantee how the LP-750 or battery had been treated during this demonstration period. Taking all this into account we were still more than impressed with what we managed to get out of the unit. We will run a new series of tests as soon we get our LP-750 in stock. So please consider these figures a worst case scenario. We are expecting stock to arrive late August. Team Digital will also be putting one into our hire/rental list as soon as stock arrives.
Charging from a completely depleted state takes approximately 4 hours… we repeated this more than 8 times during the testing . And it was consistently taking 4 hours each charge. Some sites have been quoting longer recharge times, but we didn’t encounter this at all.
We then moved on to the flash side of of things. We tested the unit on our Elinchrom BXR500 and some Bowens Gemini 500 heads. Again this was quite consistent we achieved just over 290 500ws flash. The recycle time varied slightly, the BXR500 were aprox 2 sec and Gemini’s were more around the 3 sec mark. We also noted that when you got over 250 flashes the recycle time increased dramatically to 8 sec and for the last 20 flashes it was 16 sec . We would have no problem in saying the LP750 is good for at least 250 500ws flashes with a single flash head. The other point that we would make at this time is, that most of those flash were done consecutively which wouldn’t necessary be the way you would use it in a normal shooting environment.
With two flash heads ( Elinchrom BXR500 ) with modelling lamps on we achieved a consistent 150 500ws flashes. Im sorry we ran out of time to test a three head kit. Again we will run that test in August.
From a constant lighting point of view we ran the Premier Softbox kit which has 9 x 28W Fluro globes. We were a little disappointed with the results on this test, we only achieved aprox 35 min of full power. We will run this test again with a new unit.
Computer wise we ran all our test on a MacBook Pro 17″ which was able to charged in just under two hours, this was from no lights on the battery indicator to a full five lights and 100% charge showing on the computer. At the same time we were able to charge a Canon 1Dmk3 battery and still have 2 of the 3 power indicators on the LP-750 showing . So we could safely say that we can get a least 2 full laptop charges out of a battery , but more than likely 3.
Based upon the above tests we believe the LeadPower LP-750 would be a great asset in a location kit. From a price point of view it represents great value at $ 799.00 inc GST for a full kit including battery, chargers and carry case. And it is very simple to replace the battery if you need more capacity, spare batteries are only $ 199.00 inc GST.
If you want more information or just want to place order give us a call or fill the form below.
Image quality, this in our opinion is the most important aspect of a printer. We have covered the running costs and function of the Epson R3000 in a previous review. Now we are discussing why we believe it is the best print in its segment ( A3+ Desktop )
Firstly lets look at the colour gamut we have a few examples gamut maps below. It is important to point out at this stage that we have used canned profiles from Ilford and Canson . The reason for this, is that we have independent profiles from the printers we sample on the same media. While we write profiles we wanted to make sure that this test was as independent as possible.
The Epson R3000 is the wire frame and the Canon 9500MkII is the coloured
Now th
e Gamut maps themselves first we compare the Epson R3000 and the Canon 9500MkII with a Ilford Smooth Pearl profile. We can see from the map that the R3000 has an over all larger gamut. Although we can see a little more out of Canon 9500 in the greens, but the R3000 has greater gamut in the red through to yellow and certainly an improvement in aqua’s to the blues.
The next comparison is with the Canon and the R3000 on Canson BFK media. It represents a smaller gamut due to the type of media. The two printers are a lot closer on this media although the red through to yellow are still greater on the R3000 and the green tone advantage that the Canon has is reduced considerably.
The last media type is the one of the best we have seen full stop, but thats is another post,we are referring to the Canson Platine media. We can see that the R3000 has a considerable advantage in the aqua’s, blues and magenta’s, also through the yellows and oranges. The Canon still has a slight advantage in the greens.
The last comparison is between the Epson Pro 4900 ( Wireframe ) Epson Pro 3880 ( Red ) and the Epson R3000 ( Multicolour ). There is no surprise that the Epson Pro 4900 wins hands down with that beautiful HDR ink set. The 3880 and R3000 are very similar and they should as they share the same ink set K3 Vivid Magenta ink set.
So from a gamut point of view the Epson R3000 is as good if not better than its competitors.
We would also consider that the 2 Picolitre dot size has some bearing on the over all quality when you compare it to the
Canon 9500MkII at 3.0
Epson Pro 3880 3.5
Epson Pro 4900 3.5
Epson have also introduced some time ago A ink repelling coating for the Micro Piezo print head. This simply means Epson can put down a more accurate dot, which adds up to a better quality image.
If you want to see the quality of the prints produced by the Epson R3000 call in to Team Digital and we’d be happy to show you how good they are.
Firstly where does the Epson R3000 fit into range , it will be a direct replacement for the R2880 we believe. Mainly because it is such superior printer to the R2880. And the fact that they considerably less expensive to run due mainly to the 25.9ml cartridges.
To give you a little insight into the running cost on Epson and Canon equivalent printers see graph below.
These costs are based average buy prices on genuine cartridges. As you can see the R3000 is some 12% cheaper than the nearest Canon competitor . And is at least 10% cheaper than the other other A3+ printers in the sample. The Pro 3880/4900 still represents the best value for a desktop printer.
Unpacking the unit we see that it comes complete with roll media attachments and CD/DVD media tray. This offers a little more functionality than the much loved Pro3880. The other thing is that the cartridges that come with the printer are the full 25.9ml not a half size, well done Epson. There are 9 cartridges PK, LK, LLK, C, LC, VM, VLM, Y and MK. The size of the cartridges also leads us to interesting conclusion. Exactly what volume ofink do you get when you first purchase the printer?
The R3000 is the best in this area over the two other A3+ printers sampled. Put simply you get an extra $200.00 worth of ink over the R2880 and some $ 115.00 worth over the Canon 9500MkII. The two larger printers represent the best value over all with the Epson Pro 3880 coming complete with $835.20 in ink and the Epson Pro 4900 coming complete $869.00 worth of ink. You should consider this when purchasing a printer as it may mean the over all cost of the printer is ink component.
Using the Epson R3000 is a simple process everything you need to know about the setup, loading media and changing blacks is all on the huge 2.5″ screen. We’ve given some examples below.
This is the start up screen, which clearly layout your ink levels and also the type of communication. In the this case its the wireless option that works a treat. Do remember that you can only select one type of communication. We’ve been running it wirelessly for the last 2 months and it hasn’t missed a beat.
From here we simply go to the large OK on the toggle to get in to the rest of the menu.
The first menu that comes up is the black change over that allows us to change over to what ever black ink is suitable for the media in use.
The next screen is loading Thick media menu. This allows us to select the type of thick media. Your choices are
Fine Art Media ( 0.3 to 0.7 mm)
Poster Board ( 0.7 to 1.3mm )
Once you select one of these options the screen will take you through step by step on how to load the media. If you follow these instruction you just won’t have any problems loading thick media.
The next screen is loading CD and DVD media. Again if you follow the screen prompts you wont have any problems.
Loading roll paper is the next screen again simply follow the prompts and is seamless loading. This makes doing panoramic prints a breeze, the max length you can print is 111.8cm ( 44″ ). which gives a approx a 1 to 3 ratio which is perfect for most pano’s.
The last of the menus is Setup, again simple instructions easy to follow.
Maintenance : For Nozzle Check , Head Cleaning and Cleaning Sheet
Printer Setup : For paper skew, and Plate gap.
The Platen gap can be very important if you doing thicker media
Network Settings: this is where we setup our Wireless or Ethernet network settings.
Watch out for Part B of the R3000 review
Dont forget about the super special on the R3000 click here for more details
The clever people at Wacom have done it again, the new Wacom Bamboo Stylus is a must have for anyone that has a iPad. Not only have they made a slim responsive stylus, better than anything else on the market. They have coupled it with ultimate paperless communication tool “Bamboo Paper”.
Bamboo Paper, a seriously fun new app from Wacom, provides you with the ability to create virtual notebooks for your iPad, letting you share your ideas visually with handwritten notes, sketches, signatures for contacts and lots more.
Best of all Bamboo Paper is free until the end of June. So if you are thinking about getting a Bamboo Stylus then it might be worth your while downloading the app now for free. Because after that you are going have to pay whole $ 1.99.
We are now taking orders for the fantastic new Wacom Bamboo Stylus which is due in the next few weeks so get in quick!
On Monday Team held the first iTeaser for 2011, showing how to turn the iPad from a handy little gadget, to a effective tool that you can use in your imaging business. From using the iPad to control your camera and studio lighting, for wireless image transfer, to using the Capture One App to allow clients to view images as you are shooting. This relaxed informative presentation was a real eye opener for those who attended. We can confirm that there will be a another iTeaser running in early August which will cover all the questions you may have about data storage including Drobo systems. Stay Tuned
Capture Pilot is a free app that the people at Capture One supply. Although it does need Capture One 6.0 to run so its not exactly free, but it does do a great job. What this app does is allow clients to see the images that you are taking at on a shoot via there iPad. You need to have a computer that is tethered with Capture One running. Capture Pilot then via the iPad or iPhone for that matter, you can see the images as they are shot, it also gives you the ability of going backward and forwards through the images, enlarge images, rate images. A very handy little app.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/capture-pilot/
ShutterSnitch and EyeFi this is the ultimate when it comes to truely wireless image transfer. With a EyeFi card and the Shuttersnitch software we can transfers images to the iPad without needing to be near a wireless network ( Wireless Broadcast ) Once the images are downloaded you can thumbnail view, enlarge, and send to via email. We have been using this system for some time with the Fuji X-100 and it works a treat. One hitch is that the Eyefi cards are only available in SD card format at the moment.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shuttersnitch/
Elinchrom Light control this app allows you to control your Elinchrom RX lighting via your iPad. Although we couldnt use it in anything but the demo mode due to the dongle not being available from Elinchrom. We could certainly see the possiblities of the app to simplfy studio work.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/elinchrom-skyport-wifi
Photoshop Express This is one of the best of the bunch of editing app, but not very usefull for professionals.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/adobe-photoshop-express/
Dropbox Team has been singing the praises of this brilliant storage method for some time. Dropbox can be used on virtually anything C, Mac, Andriod Phone, iPhone and of course the iPad. The system is so simple you can store up to 2Gb of Data free on a Dropbox server which can accessed via the a web browser at anytime. You can also give people clients access to certain file in your Dropbox.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/dropbox/
DisplayPad this allow us to turn out iPad into a second screen for a computer. Which we found very handy for application such as Lightroom etc. Or for some who wants to keep up with Facebook or the web while working on the main computer. Very easy to setup but it is Mac only.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/displaypad/
Spyder Gallery this was just released and we were quite impressed. This app allow us the calibrate our iPad as such, the calibration is only active when you use the Spyder Gallery to view the images in. Which is still quite handy. You will need a Spyder 3 and a computer to do this calibration , the Spyder connect to your computer and then you place the Spyder on the iPad it then send the the calibration data back to iPad wirelessly.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spydergallery/
Photographic Contracts : Create, Edit, Sign and Email Photography Contracts and releases from your iPad or iPhone!! Embed images and branding options. Pro Placeholder Pack Upgrade allows for even more customization options.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photographers-contract-maker/
One of the main questions that came up on the night was
Can I connect a a USB or Hard drive storage device ? The answer is no at the moment sorry.
Team Digital is testing a great new product The Grafilite Natural Lighting System.
After spending a day working with the system we can safely say this is a great low cost, compact solution for print assessment. We will have through soon hopefully a slightly larger system Grafilite Mode to test. Stocks of the Grafilite should be in within the next few weeks.
Assessing a print under artificial light and in the wrong ambient conditions can cause you to see the colours in the image incorrectly. Illumination temperature ( °k) and quality (CRI) affect the actual colour you see. This can range from a neutral grey or skin tone looking warmer or cooler under different lighting, to a pair of colours appearing identical under one illumination and considerably different to each other under another.
This phenomenon is knows as metamerism. Even in everyday life we can see the problems metamerism causes; for example, a pair of items appearing to match under shop lighting, but not when viewed in daylight. Daylight is evenly balanced across the visual spectrum, meaning it has equal levels of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet €˜energy’. Artificial light does not have this; therefore colours are rendered more accurately in daylight.
Working near a window during daylight hours is one way to make sure you are assessing colours in the appropriate light. But what happens when it gets dark? Your source of natural light is gone, and once again you are faced with potential inaccuracy and inconsistency of colour. GrafiLite provides a convenient, portable source of simulated daylight, meaning you can benefit from daylight conditions anywhere at any time.
Remember, it is not just lighting conditions that can affect the appearance of colours; surrounding colours can affect your judgement too. With this in mind, the GrafiLite has been designed with a non-distractive, neutral grey lamp surround. Each GrafiLite is also supplied with a neutral viewing mat, providing a surface which will not affect the appearance of colours — meaning the colour of your desktop will not prejudice image assessment.
The GrafiLite uses a 13W fluorescent tube that has been designed to produce a high quality daylight balanced light ( 5600K ).
The ‘TrueColor’ 13W bulb has the equivalent light output of a 60W tungsten light bulb.The tubes have an estimated 10,000 hour life.
These systems are not designed to replace equipment like GTI viewing booths which Team Digital sells. More to offer a low cost solution to people wanting more consistent control over there printing and print assessment.