Jan 12
All Posts, Apple, Audio/Music, Awards, Cameras, Computers, DJ, Design, Features, Hardware, Lightroom, Photography, Photoshop, Plugins, Software, VJ, Video, Web, Writing

At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s the start of a new decade and this, in conjunction with the Technofile celebrating its 5th birthday (albeit slightly belatedly) seems like the perfect opportunity to give out some awards. Unlike everyone else’s awards though, the Technies are not for the best of 2009, or even for the best of the noughties. They are for, what, in the opinion of The Technofile, is the best software and hardware currently available to creative professionals. Whether it was released yesterday or 5 years ago is immaterial, the only stipulation is that you can go out and buy it…or sit at home and download it (legally, of course) now. So, without further ado: Continue reading »
Tagged with: 2010 • Ableton Live 8 • Ableton Suite 8 • Access Virus • Act! by Sage 2010 • Adobe After Effects CS4 • Adobe Creative Suite CS4 Master Collection • Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 • Adobe Illustrator CS4 • Adobe InDesign CS4 • Adobe Lightroom 2 • Adobe Photoshop CS4 • Akai Professional APC40 • anti virus • anti-spyware • APC40 • Apple • Apple Final Cut Studio • Apple iPhone • Apple Logic Studio • Apple Mac Book Pro • Apple Motion 4 • Apple OS X • Arturia • Arturia Analog Factory 2 • Arturia ARP2600 V • Arturia Brass • Arturia CS-80V • Arturia Jupiter-8V • Arturia Minimoog V • Arturia Moog Modular V • Arturia Prophet V Arturia Prophet VS • Audio Ease Altiverb 6 • Audio Ease Speakerphone 2 • AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 9 • Awards • BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer • Best Control Surface • Best DAW • best gadget • Best Hardware Synthesizer • Best Reverb • Best soft synth • Bob Moog • Camel Audio Alchemy • Camel Audio CamelSpace • camera • Canon 5D MkII • cell phone • compact digital camera • computer • computing • contact management • Convergent Design Nano Flash • DAW • distortion • DJ • DJ deck • DJ mixer • DJing • DSLR • DTP • E-MU Systems Emulator X3 • Edirol V4 • Final Draft 8 • firewall • Gadget • GPS • Graphics Tablet • HDR • HDRsoft Photomatix Pro 3 • Holga 120 GN • Illustration • iZotope Trash • Laptop • Lightroom plug-in • Line 6 Bas Pod • Line 6 Guitar Pod • Litepanels • Microsoft Windows 7 • Microsoft Windows XP • mobile phone • motion graphics • music tech • Music Technology • Nik Color Efex Pro 3 • Nik Dfine 2.0 • Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0 • Nik Silver Efex Pro • Nik Viveza 2 • Nikon D3s • Norton Internet Security 2010 • Novation SL MkII • onOne Focal Point 2 • onOne Genuine Fractals 6 Professional • onOne Mask Pro 4 • onOne Photo Frame 4.5 • onOne Photo Tools 2.5 • onOne PhotoTune 3 • Operating System • OS • Panasonic Lumix DMC GF-1 • phone • Photography • Photoshop plug-in • Pioneer CDJ 2000 • Pioneer DJM-800 • Pioneer DVJ-1000 • Pioneer SVM-1000 • Portrait Professional Studio 9 • Predator • Propellerhead Reason • Propellerhead Record • Propellerhead Rewire • Proteus 2000 • Quark Express 8 • Resolume Avenue 3 • reverb • Ricoh GXR • Rob Pappen • Scriptwriting software • Sekonic Dualmaster L-758 Cine • Sennheiser • Serrato Scratch Live • Snow Leopard • Sony PMW EX1 • Sony PMW EX3 • Sony Vegas Pro 9 • SSL 9000k • Sub Boom Bass • Technics SL-1210M5GEB • The 10 Year Suite • The Technofile • TomTom Go 950 Live • Video • Video Editing • VJ • VJ deck • VJ mixer • VJ software • VJing • Wacom Intuos 4 L • web design • Write Brothers’ Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 • X-Rite ColorChecker Passport • Xtreme Lead
Aug 01

Canon’s Powershot G9 was an instant hit with professional photographers searching for a take anywhere/backup camera. In fact, it seems like there’s barely a photojournalist I know who doesn’t own one. Its successor, the, perhaps unsurprisingly named G10, has much to live up to. Does it succeed, or is it an upgrade too far? Continue reading »
Tagged with: Cameras • Hardware • Photography • Reviews
Dec 31

When I first heard about the Nikon Solutions Show, I, quite naturally, assumed it would be little more than evangelism for the converted. Then I saw the lineup which, boasting names like Joe Cornish and Andy Rouse, turned out to be even better spec’d than Nikon’s latest DSLRs!
Two of the highlights of the show were, unquestionably, Cornish’s and Rouse’s talks. Joe Cornish co-presented with fellow top UK landscape photographer, Paul Gallagher, both of whom continue to work traditionally using 5×4 field cameras (the former using colour transparency, the latter using black and white). This being the case, some may wonder what they were doing at a show sponsored by a company that has never made 5×4 cameras and that recently announced they are to stop manufacturing film cameras altogether (ya boo). But I give major props to Nikon, for hosting talks such as this, which were about photography in its purest form, not an excuse to sell kit. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Cameras • Nikon • Photography • Reviews • Shows
Sep 30
If you think that The Technofile has been dominated by cameras of late, guess what…here’s a feature about cameras…What can I tell you, Photokina, the world’s biggest photography trade show has just finished, as a result of which there has been a deluge of product announcements in recent weeks.
First Sony announced the long awaited Alpha 900, their first full frame (35.9mm x 24mm) DSLR. Priced to match Nikon’s lauded D700, but offering twice the resolution (24.6 mega pixels), it boasts 100% viewfinder coverage, exchangeable viewfinder screens, 2.5-4 stops of image stabilisation built into the magnesium alloy body, sensor cleaning, ISO equivalence expandable to 100-6400, a maximum shooting rate of 5 frames per second (for 100 frames) and an expanded range of Carl Zeiss lenses. It also offers a couple of innovations, the first being in camera HDR creation using auto bracketing and the second being an intelligent preview mode that allows you to use the 3inch 921,000 dot LCD screen at the back of the camera to preview the effects of settings such as white balance and exposure compensation before taking a picture. Offering these features at this price will undoubtedly make it a prosumer hit.

Continue reading »
Tagged with: Cameras • Canon • DSLR • Foveon • Nikon • Photokina • Sigma • Sony
Jul 31

When it comes to still photography, digital has all but won the argument. It’s more convenient, almost instantaneous and, if you exclude the cost of needing to update your equipment every two and a half minutes, far cheaper than silver. In fact, it really only has one problem, it simply doesn’t look like film. Or at least it didn’t until a year or so ago, when Nikon released their much lauded D3, which, to my eyes (with or without the sunglasses) was the first small format digital camera to produce results that genuinely looked as if they could have been shot on film. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Cameras • Hardware • Nikon • Photography • Previews
Jun 17

Sony have been making compact digital cameras for some time…in fact, their ‘Mavica’ was the first camera to digitally record images. But until recently, they had never produced a digital SLR. So in 2005, when they decided it was time to enter this highly specialised market, rather than develop a new camera from scratch, they bought into it, by acquiring one of the world’s most successful SLR companies, Konica Minolta. At the time, the photographic world was up in arms, predicting all sorts of doom and destruction. But as it turns out, the doom mongers were wrong, as the Alpha 100 bears testament to the best that both companies have to offer. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Cameras • DSLRs • Hardware • Photography • Reviews
Aug 05
Well it had to happen sooner or later…and now it has…I’ve been sent something to review that I have a real problem with…
It’s not the Fuji S20’s size which, for a camera with this level of functionality, is petite. Nor is it the S20’s handling, as it sits in the hand almost as nicely as a cream cheese bagel and it’s certainly not its “6.2” million SR CCD which combines 3.35 million high sensitivity pixels with 3.35 million lower sensitivity pixels to give pictures with much greater latitude than your average digital. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Cameras • Hardware • Photography • Reviews
Jan 11
Not content with bringing you up to the minute coverage of high tech wonders like pinhole photography (gasp) and century old alternative processes (awe), The Technofile is once again pushing the boat out photographically…this time with it’s review of the latest camera from…Holga…
Never heard of them? Well that’s understandable, since all they’ve ever produced is a seriously crap plastic toy camera. However, this seriously crap plastic toy camera is taken very seriously by fine art photographers the world over, who, for quite some time, have thought it’s the best thing since whatever the last best thing was. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Cameras • Photography • Reviews