Kelly Turner

Cameras got smaller, photos got mapped, and people started turning their iPhones into image editors: it's time to say goodbye to 2009. If you haven't been following along at home, here are a few photo-related highlights from the past year:

The ISO wars

Where did the time go? One minute you're enjoying your Thanksgiving turkey and thinking about how this year you're going to stay on top of the holiday rush. And the next thing you know, there's less than a week to Christmas and you're still trying to pick out a photo for your Christmas cards. Ah well, there's always New Year's.

But if you're determined to get those cards out in time for Santa's big arrival, there's still hope. You may not be able to order cards online anymore--most shipping deadlines were yesterday--but you can still print your own greeting cards. Just be sure to get them in the mail on Monday, December 21st.

Now that the fridge is packed with Thanksgiving leftovers and the radio is broadcasting hourly traffic reports for mall parking lots, it's time to start thinking about the pending holiday season and the big H.C. That's right: Holiday Cards.

Why not let this be the year you don't wait until the last minute to send out your season's greetings? In fact, if you have a library full of photos from the year, now's a great time to take advantage of them--not just for holiday cards, but also for custom calendars, books, and more.

OnOne Software has released Photo Essentials 3, a suite of five add-ons for Adobe Photoshop Elements. The suite includes tools for correcting color, removing backgrounds, creating frames, enlarging images, and adding artistic effects. The new Make It Cool module, gives you one-click access to more than 40 effects, including impressionist paintings, cross processing, Ansel Adams-esque black and white photos, and an HDR-like effect. A new palette lets you access all five tools from a single interface.

Photo Essentials 3 supports Adobe Photoshop Elements versions 6 and higher, and costs $70. Customers can upgrade from previous versions for $50.

No matter how much you enjoy taking digital photos and sharing them electronically, there's something special about photos that you hold in your hand. These days, it's popular to let someone else make prints for you--be it the neighborhood camera store, Wal-Mart, or an online photo service like Shutterfly. But there are advantages to printing your photos. For one thing, you don't have to wait for prints to arrive in the mail. And if a print doesn't come out the way you'd like, you can adjust the image and print again without having to send it off to someone else. (If you're seeing strange lines or bad colors, see our printer troubleshooting guide.)

Here are some tips for getting the best results from your inkjet printer.

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Olympus has announced the E-P2, the second generation of its Micro Four Thirds camera combining the form factor of a compact point-and-shoot with the interchangeable lenses and high-quality image sensor of an SLR.

Like the E-P1 before it, the 12.3-megapixel E-P2 features in-camera image stabilization, support for HD-video, manual exposure controls, and support for Raw files. The new model adds two art filters for creative effects, full manual control of the shutter and aperture in Movie mode, and HDMI control of the camera's playback features from a remote while the camera is attached to an HDTV.

Digital photo frames are hot products this season, as more and more consumers look for ways to free their growing photo collections from the computer. But why settle for a mere frame, when you could have a printer, too?

That's the question behind the iMo Photo Frame Printer, by Mimomonitors.com. This 8-inch digital photo frame (800-by-600 pixel resolution) also prints 4-by-6-inch prints at 300 dpi.

Owners of Epson's P-6000 or P-7000 multimedia photo viewers will soon be able to tether the device to a compatible Canon or Nikon SLR and instantly view and save photos as they shoot, thanks to a firmware update slated for later this month.

Once the camera is connected to the viewer via USB and switched to tethered mode, the photographer can immediately view shots on the viewer's 4-inch high-resolution screen. Tethering also provides instant backup as images are saved to the viewer's hard-drive as well as the camera's media card. The firmware update also includes a remote shutter release function.

Just as the megapixel war is calming down, Nikon has thrown down a new gauntlet for camera makers with the Nikon D3S. The high-end SLR boasts a light-sensitivity range up to ISO 12,800, as well as an enhanced mode that further extends the range to the equivalent of ISO 102,400. The camera also offers HD video capture, dual card slots, and an expanded buffer.

Designed for pro photographers, the D3S features a retooled 12.1-megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor with improved dynamic range. The camera's extended ISO settings will be a boon for photographers who need to shoot in challenging low-light situations, such as indoor sporting events and weddings. The low-light performance will also be a plus to videographers; the D3S offers a High-Sensitivity Movie mode which give you access to the camera's full ISO range while shooting. The D3S captures 1280x720 video at 24 frames per second (fps). In addition to its built-in mono microphone, the camera includes a stereo-microphone input for improved audio quality. Photographers can trim video clips within the camera and extract single frames as images. Filmmakers also now have access to manual exposure controls while in Live View mode.

Canon on Wednesday introduced new additions to its point-and-shoot family, including two megazooms and a touch-screen Digital Elph.

Advanced Compacts

Apple has released the iPhoto 8.1 software update. The newest version of iPhoto '09 primarily adds new project templates, including a larger hard-cover book that measures 10 inches by 13 inches. Previously, the largest book option was 8.5 inches by 11 inches. The update also provides new holiday card designs and three new travel-oriented book themes: Tropical, Asian, and Old World.

The update is available through OS X's Software Update utility and is recommended for all iPhoto '09 users.

Casio today announced two new compact point-and-shoot cameras, the Exilim Zoom EX-Z450 and Exilim Zoom EX-Z90.

Both cameras offer 12.1 megapixels of resolution and HD-quality video. The cameras are the first in the Casio lineup to feature a new Intelligent AF option that automatically identifies objects in a photo--such as pets, which are missed by standard face-detection systems--and adjusts the focus and exposure accordingly. The cameras also offer an improved Dynamic Photo feature which can detect a moving subject in one photo and place it in a different photo. Previous versions required multiple shots of the same scene. The new cameras can extract the subject from a single shot, so long as it's placed against a solid backdrop.