I made the jump from film to digital photography two years ago -- though I still stick to and unnaturally love my film cameras and cannot be convinced that they are in any way obsolete -- and even now, I still haven't mastered all the ins and outs of my Nikon digital cameras. I read the manual, I've played, tested, poked, and prodded my camera, and yet it seems every now and again someone shows me something I never knew my D70 could do -- and I'm a professional portrait photographer! So many times, I've thought to myself, "Gee, I wish I had a handy, girlfriends-style guide to this camera instead of technical details and specs."

For Canon users, that dream is closer to reality.

PhotoNotes.org is a Canon EOS-specific photography site geared at answering all your questions, including a forum for users to snap and chat about all of the features and functions and show off a bit of their work. According to the site's maintainer, "Photonotes.org is a free public information resource for the Internet photographic community," though it is heavily biased toward the Canon EOS camera family.

A short list of things to do this weekend. Please add more events in the comments.

• Burtynsky Closing Go see Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky at the Brooklyn Museum which closes on Sunday, 15 January.
• New Photography ’05
  Check out MoMA's New Photography ’05: Carlos Garaicoa, Bertien van Manen, Phillip Pisciotta, Robin Rhode which closes on 16 January.
• Summerphunk Subway Party Saturday Night
  Party with hundreds of strangers on the 1 train underground. These things are either boom or bust, but produce great photos either way. Meet for this free event at the Arch at Washington Square Park (5th Avenue and Washington Square Park North, Manhattan) at 10p Saturday night, meet at the arch and depart for the subway at 10:30pm.

  More information below the fold.

The industry switchover from film to digital with everyone dropping analog products continues - remember Kodak shedding its' B&W paper production? Today Nikon announced Plans to Stop Making Most Cameras That Use Film:

Nikon said it would halt production of all but two of its seven film cameras and would also stop making most lenses for those cameras. The company will halt production of the film camera models "one by one," though it refused to specify when.

A company spokesman said Nikon made the decision because sales of film cameras have plunged. In the most recent fiscal year ended March 2005, Nikon said that film camera bodies accounted for 3 percent of the 180 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in sales at the company's camera and imaging division. That is down from 16 percent the previous year.

As a Canon user, this doesn't affect me, but I've used Nikon gear before and I was always happy using it. But as someone who still shoots predominately film this reinforces the constricting market of products and services film users have available at their disposal.

Do you still shoot film? or are using Nikon products? Will this push you faster into the digital world?

On Friday, February 10th, NYCPB and the Apple Store in SOHO will be presenting the 6th New York City Photobloggers event. NYCPB is always looking for hidden talent, so if you operate a NYC Photoblog and you haven't presented at previous events, we want to hear from you!

If selected, you will be asked to prepare a 10-15 minute presentation about your technique and what inspires you. This will be followed by a short question and answer period. As a bonus, if you are able to bring two prints, preferably 8x10 or larger, we can include them in a raffle.

As a presenter, not only are you able to share your talents with hundreds of people in the audience, you will be bringing attention to your photoblog, resulting in increased traffic!

Sound interesting? If so, send an e-mail to nycphotobloggers [at] gmail.com. Include your name, URL to your photoblog, and when you launched your photoblog.

We have less than 30 days until the event, so please act fast!

Update: In light of recent submissions, we ask that all potential presenters have a photoblog that is at least six months old.

Everyone remembers Thomas Hawk's trouble with Price Rite Photo in Brooklyn? Well, today the New York Times writes about the fracas: In a Flash, Camera Dealers Feel the Web's Wrath:

What began late in November with a disputed order for a Canon EOS has led to prank calls and attempts to cripple Web sites, police reports of death threats, intervention by global Internet companies, a new city investigation and, all the while, spirited coverage by technology news Web sites.

Before buying that new digital camera with the awesome deal, check out the Internets first, including the Better Business Bureau, and Don Wiss' Brooklyn StoreFronts for a complete picture of who you are buying from.

Adobe has just launched a new program for Beta testing (Mac version only, although they promise a Windows version coming soon) for their new program LightRoom. According to the site, "Adobe® Lightroom™ Beta is the efficient new way for professional photographers to import, select, develop, and showcase large volumes of digital images. So you can spend less time sorting and refining photographs, and more time actually shooting them."

As a Windows user, I've been unable to give it a whirl myself, but already I'm dying to see it. You can convert your RAW files immediately instead of using a seperate program, as long as you have a supported camera, as well as make general adjustments. A twenty-minute tutorial highlights the rest of the features, though as it is a Beta version, so some of the features reportedly don't match the tutorial, and the user interface is a bit buggy.