If you are shooting on Nikon’s new D7100, there is a firmware update available. This is what it will correct:

• When images captured using a flash in Manual or Repeating flash flash mode were played back with the “Overview” display enabled, flash output level was displayed in the flash compensation portion of the display.  This issue has been resolved.
• When the AE/AF lock button was pressed with Special Effects mode enabled, Selective Color selected, and the view magnified with selective color options displayed in live view, the image did not change while live view was active.  This issue has been resolved.
  An issue that caused the Viewfinder Virtual Horizon to freeze when certain operations were performed has been resolved.
• When images captured with white balance bracketing enabled were played back, a white balance fine-tuning value of 9 (steps) was displayed even for images captured with a fine-tuning value of 10 (steps) applied.  This issue has been resolved.
• An issue that prevented cursor movement when certain operations were performed in calendar playback mode has been resolved.
• The size of some text displayed in calendar playback mode has been modified.
• Display of focal lengths in 35mm [135] format recorded in image Exif data has been corrected.
• With movie recording at 1920 × 1080/24p in M exposure mode, subject brightness did not change, even when shutter speed was adjusted.  This issue has been resolved.

Instructions and the download is available here: https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/18539

Pluraleyes allows you to sync audio files from an external recorder with video. For example, say you’re shooting an interview with your HDSLR – which has horrible audio – and using an audio recorder to record audio of the interview. You can sync that up in post manually, but that can take some time. Plural eyes will do it automatically for you. The video above shows you the steps, which is tremendously easy. He is using a Mac, so it may be different on a PC.

When out shooting and you know you are going to sync the video with another audio source not from your camera, it’s important to give some audio references. That means when you hit record on the audio file and on the camera (as close in time as possible), you have to give the camera and record a point of recognition. I was taught to say “camera speed” when starting to record and “camera off” when done, just before stoping recording on the audio recorder and camera. And you say that when no one else is talking. I have found that clapping three times works great when syncing manually. I look at the audio wave forms to line up the audio recording with the camera audio in FCP, and the claps give nice high waveforms. But to each his own.

The previous versions of Pluraleyes I have used were not that great. I would say that the success rate for me was less than 50 percent, so I just went straight to manually syncing. This new version looks promising though. It might be worth doing a free trial first. If you’ve used version 3.1.1, please let me know how you like it.

B&H is offering rebates for various Nikon equipment this weekend, just in time for Mother’s Day. I’m sure you mother will appreciate a brand new D600 with 24-85mm lens, camera bag, 16 gig card, monopod, shoulder bag, extra battery and wireless mobile adapter for $2400. That’s a $300 dollar savings. On the other hand I’m sure your mother would appreciate just as much, the photos you take on Mother’s Day with your new camera if you happened to get it for yourself instead.

NikonRumors.com has a post about the deals, which you can see here. There are deals on point and shoot cameras as well as HDSLRs.

The above video is a review of the D600. I’m not the biggest fan of DigitalRev reviews, specifically the format and I think they can be much shorter, but I think the reviewer offers a solid opinion after trying the camera out. If you play the last couple minutes you get his opinion.

Costco has a good deal on the D600 kit, dropping in price from $3,290 to $2,790, making it very comparable to this B&H one. I think I like the B&H deal a little better because it offers and extra (off-brand) battery and monopod. You can add a 70-300mm to the B&H deal for $387 if you buy it with the D600 by clicking the link below the product description.

I recently used the D600 with the 24-70mm f/2.8 for a stills assignment, and really loved the result. I use the D800 (which is $200 off this weekend) at work and it’s the best camera I’ve ever used (though I haven’t used the 5d MKIII), and the D600 is essentially the D800 with less resolution and less sturdy body. If I was looking to purchase a camera that shot stills, I would probably go with the D600. The dynamic range it offers is outstanding and it was certainly beefy enough for me.

Happy shopping.

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Adobe announced today that it will no longer sell new versions of Adobe Creative Suite – still selling and supporting CS6 – but will now only offer new versions and updates to those using Adobe Creative Cloud. That means if you want new versions of Premiere, Photoshop, Lightroom, InDesign, etc., you’ll need to sign up for the service which ranges in price from $20 per moth for a single program to $50 a month for every Adobe program (well at least all the ones I’m familiar with). See a list of programs here.

You can read Adobe’s press release here. 

Nofilmschool.com has a post up and there will surely be a lively discusion in the comments. 

I personally subscribe to the Creative Cloud. I jumped on it last month while Adobe was offering $30 per month for the entire Creative Cloud service, with free updates and upgrades. If I were to purchase CS6 at the time it would have cost $1800. To me it seemed like a good deal and feasible way to own software that I need. I wish this would have been available when I was in college. There is no way I would (or could) put up $1800, but I can do $30 a month. That’s $360 a year for every Adobe product I need. I might hesitate if I had to pay $50, though would (and will) probably give in when the time comes. With all that said, I haven’t had any hiccups using the cloud and haven’t even had a chance to use any other features aside from the software.

I know a lot of people will not be happy about this. People love options, and this just takes one away. What are your thoughts?

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Video above from the Adobe Cloud site, displaying some features of the service.