DM22 "Driver Test" Requirements

Students-

If you want to use the Mamiya DM22, you need to show a faculty member that you can:

1. Properly insert a CF Card
2. Switch the camera on
3. Switch the digital back on
4. Set the digital back to correct camera setting
5. Set the digital back to 200 ISO
6. Make a correct exposure with a gray card in the image
7. Gray balance camera
8. Switch the camera off
9. Switch the digital back off
10. Remove the digital back from the camera correctly
11. Replace the digital back on the camera

As a reminder, the camera will only be available to be checked out for use in the studio at this time.

New Goods Recently Arrived in Photo Checkout

Students -

Photo checkout now has available several new items which may be of use to you. Those of you who have been frequently checking out light meters may already be aware that we've acquired another pair of Sekonic L758s (PDF of the manual is available here), but we've also picked up a couple more basic lightmeters: a pair of Gossen Digiflash meters. These are very small and simple meters, and as such I suspect that some of you will love them dearly for their portability and simplicity, and others among you will regard them with a frothing hatred for their lack of advanced features and basic interface. I would advise having a look at them before you have need for a light meter to determine if it's the sort of meter you'd like or not. The instruction manual is available here (PDF), and of course you can stop by photo checkout to give one a test drive.

On the color management side of things, there's a new Spyder3 Elite available for (in-building) checkout to address your laptop display calibration needs, and a trio of X-Rite Colorchecker Passports.

Checkout also has a couple new Vivitar 285HVs. These are non-dedicated flashes that can be used on just about any camera with a flash shoe or PC socket... except for that goofy Sony/Minolta "inside out" flash shoe design. These are essentially manual flashes, and though they have some Auto features, they won't give you any sort of TTL functionality, so you might want to study up on the manual, which is available in checkout. I couldn't find a Vivitar-provided online manual for the 285HV, but there is a manual for a prior version (though same model number) located here (PDF).

Wacom Intuos 4

Students-

Using some CFAC funds for this year, Photo Checkout has acquired a medium-sized Wacom Intuos 4 tablet. It's not the wireless version, but left-handers can configure it for more comfortable usage, and it has a few tricks up its sleeve with a little touch dial not seen on predecessor models.

The tablet is not set up on any specific workstation, but can be checked out from photo checkout for use on any scanning station in either digital lab, with exception of the workstation with the Cintiq display.

Also, as a reminder, please have your lockers cleaned out by the end of the semester so that they can be cleaned during the summer. If you're taking a summer photography class, you can leave your stuff in there, but for the rest of you, now might be a good time to start sorting through some of those things you can take home right away, before final projects start to get too crazy!

Photoshop maxes out at 4GB of RAM

If you're thinking about buying a new Mac Pro with more than 8GB of RAM, you might want to reconsider, because Photoshop CS3 can only use 4GB of RAM.

Unless you're doing high end video production (with 64-bit apps), then it's essentially useless to buy a Mac with more than 8GB of RAM, because it can't be used.

A 64-Bit version of Photoshop which will be able to use massive amounts of RAM, is still several years away because Apple has stopped development of the 64-Bit codebase which will allow Adobe and other software companies to release 64-bit version of their software.

Sadly, Photoshop CS4 for Windows will be 64-bit, allowing Windows Vista users to feed Photoshop as much RAM as they need.

There's a rumored workaround for Photoshop's RAM limit. If anyone tries this out, please spread the word. It's worth a shot if you work with massive files, such as 4x5 or 8x10 scans, or composites.

Read more:

• Macworld | Photoshop CS4 to be 64-bit for Windows, but not Mac
• Adobe Blogs - Photoshop, Lightroom, and Adobe's 64-bit Roadmap