Nope, this is not a product, but a homegrown remote controller that is easily replicated. It's also a testament how far HDR photographers have to go, because Canon keeps ignoring their needs. 30 seconds maximum exposure is ridiculous for nightshots, and 3-frame exposure bracketing is even more ridiculous.

I reported about Steve Chapman's ingenious Nintendo DS-controller before (which is evolving into a real powerhouse of features, btw). But if all you want is shooting 7-frame brackets with +-2 EV intervals, no matter how long your longest exposure, then Joergen Geeds might have just found the solution for you:

Bracketmeister 0.32 on Arduino interface

What looks like a basement project for months is actually all set up on ready-made hardware. It is an Arduino USB board with a Nokia display, ready to use if you know how to code.
Joergen is nice enough to provide the Bracketmeister code as open source, so check it out. While you're there, make sure to see some of his amazing views of New York City!

I'm pretty proud of this update:

LightBitch is now officially the first LightWave plugin that automatically checks for updates. It's not only sending you to a webpage, no, it literally goes online: LightBitch checks on this server and notifies you of a new version of itself:



Pretty cool, eh? Honestly, I call this my biggest LScript stunt so far - considering that not even LightWave itself has this ability.

Next up is my Smart IBL plugin. We'll see, maybe this one could even ping the sIBL archive...
Which reminds me, Matt Estela has just published a tutorial screencast, demonstrating the awesomeness of lighting a scene with Smart IBL. My favorite quote is "From zero to hero in one click." - I'm gonna have to use this :)

Hurray, I'm back with my newly refurbished MabBook. Got a new motherboard, and someone found it necessary to also replace my filthy keyboard. Thanks, Apple - these new keys are pretty shiny.

First, the site updates that were in limbo state for a week:
The new sIBL of the month is my new favorite location: Monument Valley. There are several fixes for Internet Explorer in place now, most importantly IE7 will actually show you the coupon codes on the software tools page. And the Hot-on-Flickr gallery has filled up with some great eye candy again...

In the meantime, a new HDR software has surfaced:

First look at HDR MAX

Does the world need yet another HDR software? Sure it does - it's a sign that this field has become popular enough to feed a larger market, and with time camera makers will find HDR worth supporting. And spare us these puny 3-frame-bracketing disappointments. And after all, competition has always been the motor of innovation, and that why I say:
Yes! Bring it on, HDR MAX, show me what you got.


The analyst in me would place HDR MAX in the professional field, because the whole appearance of the software is very polished and professional. One might also say: Holy crap, that looks like Photoshop!!!
Even down to the small options widget in the Layers .. errr ... Exposures palette, design and functionality is identical to Photoshop CS3. Wonder what John Nack thinks about this. But I think it's awesome - it feels like coming home: If you know how to navigate Photoshop, you know HDR MAX in and out within minutes.

Tonemapping is powerful, simple to use, and pretty halo-resistant. It sure mastered my good old kitchen test with ease. One important feature is missing, though: no panorama option, hence it will break the seam of a 360 pano.

HDR generation can be done from JPEG or RAW, auto-aligment is on by default (couldn't find a way to turn it off). It has some manual alignment tools, or you can also just nudge an exposure as you would nudge a layer in Photoshop. However, no sign of ghost suppression, chromatic aberration removal, or noise filtering.

Post adjustments like curves or saturation tweaks can be done as well, which is a nice touch. Batch mode is also included. In overall, I'd call this a good and solid version one. It's not revolutionary, and the current feature set hardly justifies the record price tag of $149. Made me expect more, not less than what most others have to offer in this newly popular HDR software segment. The "Pro" shine fades to grey when even OpenEXR support is missing from this program.

Anyway, that is my personal opinion. Make up your own by checking out the trial version (which is fully functional for 30 days, regaining some points in my book).

Seriously, give it a shot! And send your pics to the HDR MAX photo contest before January 31st. More about this contest on Trey Radcliff's blog (including a Q&A with the developer). If you're the lucky winner of a MacBook Pro, make sure to get the Apple Care 3-year warranty... I can tell you, it's worth it.

If you're waiting for my monthly update, I have bad news: My Macbook Pro died, mother board failure! So the latest website update is currently beeing wiped off the drive in some secret underground Apple repair center. That's right - I'm blogging this on my iPhone because that's the only computer I have left. I'm expecting it to implode any minute, because it recently came out of warranty too...

New Years resolution? Well, now that I figured out this mobile blogging thing, my resolution is to post news more often. Too many times last year I found out about something cool, but never followed up with a post. And now the unwritten stories pile up.

Wish you a wonderful 2009,
mine can only get better from here.