Lots of people now use Flickr pictures to illustrate articles and even digital photography tutorials (giving the false impression they know what they are talking about).

Now Toyota U.S.A. has apologized to Flickr photographers for using (about 40) Flickr images without their permission in its 4Runner SUV ad.

[ via PDNPulse ]

Bob Atkins has an interesting article on how he used a Canon 500mm telephoto lens and a 2x multiplier to take pictures of Jupiter and its moons. If you already have this lens, then you’ve got to read this article.

[ Read the article at: Bob Atkins ]

Canon EOS 1D Mark IV

In Chinese, the number 4 rhymes with “death” and therefore considered unlucky and generally avoided. That is why you might have a hard time selling your house with one or more “4″s in the street number to a traditional Chinese family. But this superstition has, as far as I am aware of, not extended to electronic products. Canon has no problem with naming its product with the digit “4″ in it, as in “Digic 4″ and now the “EOS 1D Mark IV [Specs].” In fact, Tsunemasa Ohara, senior general manager, Photo Products Group at Canon Inc. states categorically in a BJP interview, “We don’t think 4 is unlucky.”

No, but perhaps “7″ (considered a “good” number by some cultures) is, as in the “Ghosting phenomenon” in the EOS 7D [Specs]?

[ Read the article at: BJP ]

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

The future is clearly compact digital cameras with large sensors, like the Panasonic GF1 [Specs], pictured above. But, the first generation of such digital cameras face some real technological challenges and many are wondering why. To find out, Dan Havlik, PDN’s Technology Specialist, talks to representatives from Sigma, Olympus and Leica to find out what is so tough about putting a large image sensor into a small camera body — and what they see for the future.

[ Read the full article at: PDNGearGuide ]

Interesting article at Luminous Landscape on “The Fallacy of Judging Image Quality Online.” The gist of the article is that too many people are trying to judge the quality of a camera by pixel peeping online versus evaluating the prints it can produce.

“Customer Service” is a dirty word for most businesses. Sometimes, the blame lies at the very top and permeates down the whole organization; at other times, it is just one cog in the wheel that is not well oiled.

Sean Cayton gives photographers three simple “golden” rules that will ensure that customers spread their names and businesses by word of mouth in “Three Rules for Earning Good Word of Mouth for Your Photography Business.”

Lots of sites now feature tutorials and e-books that use Creative Commons (CC) pictures (from Flickr, for example) to illustrate an article. It’s quite “deceiving” because the pictures are not taken by the author. Printed magazines do that all the time. But can you use a CC picture where there is a distintly recognizable face on the cover of your {free) e-book?

Carolyn Wright answers that question in Black Star Rising.

If you’ve watched the movie “Cider House Rules,” you know that there are rules to follow when living in the Cider House. Using a tripod (or even monopod) in a public venue also calls for some common sense rules that show courtesy to others (and other photographers) around you. Of course, you may decide to break some of the rules (like in the movie), but Gareth Glynn Ash writes in Black Star Rising why you shouldn’t break his “Tripod Use Rules” and end up being “that guy.”

Can you get exhibition quality prints at Sam’s Club? John Sevigny says so in his article, How to Make Exhibition-Quality Prints on a Budget. But there are a couple of things you’ll need to do first to prepare your prints….

Ask Thom Hogan and he’ll tell you. In fact, he already has in this article: The Ultimate Upgrade Guide. Read it and save yourself some anxiety — and dough.