Adobe announced the end of their: Adobe Creative Suite at its Adobe MAX conference this morning, stating that it's moving to a subscription model and dropping the existing Creative Suite software products. Begining in June, new versions of Adobe's CS software will be available only online, and only as part of a Creative Cloud subscription. 

Canon EOS 5D Mark III Firmware Version 1.2.1

Changes
Firmware Version 1.2.1 incorporates the following functional improvements and fixes.
1. Uncompressed HDMI output is now enabled.

2. Enables the center AF point to auto-focus when the camera is used with Canon EF lens/extender combinations whose combined maximum aperture is f/8.

3. Improves the speed of the camera’s acquisition of focus when using a Canon Speedlite’s AF-assist beam.

4. Fixes a phenomenon in which the LCD monitor may freeze and display Err 70 or Err 80 when a still photo is taken during Live View or in movie shooting mode.

5. Fixes a phenomenon that may occur when the continuous shooting priority setting is enabled for multiple exposures, such that, after the sixth image is taken, there is a slight pause before the remainder of the sequence is completed.

6. Fixes a phenomenon in which the viewfinder display shows incorrect information during AEB shooting.

7. Communication with the WFT-E7 Wireless File Transmitter has been improved.

8. When images have been successfully transferred with the WFT-E7 Wireless File Transmitter through the FTP protocol, an “O” will be displayed. When images have not been successfully transferred with the WFT-E7 Wireless File Transmitter through the FTP protocol, an “X” will be displayed.

9. Fixes a phenomenon in which the camera may not function properly when an Eye-Fi card is used.

10. Fixes a phenomenon in which the focal length value listed in the Exif information is not displayed correctly for images shot with the EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM lens.

11. Fixes a phenomenon in which the lens firmware cannot be updated properly.

12. Corrects errors in the Arabic language menu.

13. Fixes a phenomenon in which the camera changes the AF micro-adjustment value to -8.

14. Fixes a phenomenon in which the on-screen guidance cannot be fully displayed when setting the maximum limit value for the “Setting the ISO Speed Range for Auto ISO” option.

* Items No.1 through 12 have been incorporated into firmware version 1.2.0.
* Items No.1 through 14 have been incorporated into firmware version 1.2.1.

Firmware Version 1.2.1 is for cameras with firmware version 1.2.0 or earlier. If the camera’s firmware is already version 1.2.1, it is not necessary to update the firmware.

Download page: EOS 5D Mark III Firmware Version 1.2.1 [Mac OS X].

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Patrik Andersson Studio
www.patrikandersson.com,
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This video made the rounds a few years ago and it seems to be making a resurgence once again on several photography & creative blogs. It may be long and the speaker presents his view from the point of a creative at a design company, but it's really worth the time to watch as most of what they talk about will apply to commercial photographers too.

2011/03 Mike Monteiro | F*ck You. Pay Me. from San Francisco Creative Mornings on Vimeo.

Our speaker at the March 2011 San Francisco, CreativeMornings (www.creativemornings.com) was Mike Monteiro, Design Director, and co-founder of Mule Design Studio (www.muledesign.com). This event took place on March 25, 2011 and was sponsored by Happy Cog and Typekit (who also hosted the event at their office in the Mission).

Mike's book "Design is a Job" is available from A Book Apart (www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job)

A big giant thank you to Chris Whitmore (www.whitmoreprod.com) for offering to shoot and edit the video. Photos were graciously provided by Rawle Anders (twitter.com/rawle42).

The San Francisco chapter of Creative Mornings is run by Greg Storey (twitter.com/​brilliantcrank).

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/​SanFrancisco_CM

Once again the Master of Visuals and music David Bowie has a new video out: 'The Stars' to promote his forth coming album 'The Next Day'

Watch it through once as a music video and then turn the sound down and notice the great cinematography that resembles a really great "Fashion Editorial" which are becoming few and far between these days.

Carl Zeiss Lenses - High-end SLR lens Distagon T* 1,4/55

For those looking to step away from the now generic and ubiquitous aluminum cases that dominate our desktops LaCie offers a new external drive that could very easily find itself aboard the Prometheus or on Deckers desk. If you're interested in having four very unusual terabytes sitting on your desktop, check out the new LaCie Blade Runner drive, designed by Philippe Starck.

The custom-biult 4 TB USB 3.0 drives are being produced in a limited edition of 9,999. The design resembles nothing so much as a metal blob suspended inside a heat sink — which the designer says is, more or less, the point.

Imagined by Philippe Starck

The LaCie Blade Runner is more than just a beautifully designed hard drive – it's a creation by world famous designer Philippe Starck that represents the combination of human and machine. The LaCie Blade Runner's sharp, cage-like enclosure surrounds an almost anthropomorphic, liquid metal interior. Inspired by the mysterious, incredible power of information technology, the LaCie Blade Runner combines an anthropomorphic metal interior with an angular cage-like shell. It begs the question; can we truly confine technology to a cage?

"The warm interior electronics are encased in a mystifying shell, and the blades are the radiator that cools it down," Starck said in a prepared statement. "The suspension gives space for air to circulate around the hard drive, and the metal material increases the temperature conduction."

LaCie tells us the limited edition units are still available, albeit with a wait-list that means it'll be a couple of weeks before you get the drive in hand. For more information, visit the LaCie website.

SPECIFICATIONS

A few years ago I posted a video about the proper way to coil cords to ensure their long life and more importantly ease in packing and storage. I thought that it was time to bring it back to the front of the play list since there seems to be a great many people that are missing this very simple skill.

Now before those people that work on film shoots chime in and tell me that their method of coiling cords and cables which includes a twisting motion during the coiling of the cables, it needs to be pointed out that THERE IS NO ONE RIGHT WAY OF DOING ANYTHING; there are just some methods that are better than others. And the method demonstrated here is the one that I and hundreds of my peers in the commercial photo industry have been using for more than 20+ years.

Below you'll see a selection of my extension cords and that are all 15 years old or more. They have always been coiled using my method so I know that it works.

We have created a fully interactive experience with every item on our Virtual Photo Set.
This has previously been a part of our workshops and offers to our workshops attendees on CD and was first created 11 years ago in the early days of FLASH. As we continual change our lighting workshops and now demonstrate a great many different lighting setups we felt that it was time to offer our Lighting diagrams to a wider audience.

This is a screen capture demonstrating some of the functionality of our lighting diagrams interactivity.

Included is sampling of lighting diagrams we have demoed during our: Photo Assistant Boot Camp, Studio lighting workshops, & even our Digital Tech Workshops. All of the lighting diagrams have been previously complimented on commercial photo shoots that we have worked on. Real world and time tested to produce the results displayed in the included examples.

These lighting diagrams include the use of: Studio Strobes, ARRI lights both tungsten and HMI's, KinoFlo's and a vast array of studio grip equipment including the CHIMERA OctaPlus57 & CHIMERA Video Pro Series light banks.

Check out the Lighting diagrams page here

Go behind the scenes at the lens factory in this video made by Nikon on the 80th anniversary of its Nikkor brand.