Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The second Sony World Photography Awards is now open for entries. The Sony World Photography Awards 2009 is a global competition which honours both professional and amateur photographers, with 12 categories for professional photographers and nine for amateurs. Last year – the first year of the awards – over 70,000 entries were received from 178 countries. 31st December 2008 is the closing date for the professional and amateur categories.

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Eye-Fi has made the upload of digital photos from camera to computer using its wireless memory cards twice as fast. “Faster wireless uploads and the ability to add new services to your Eye-Fi card are significant advancements in making it more convenient and rewarding to save and share digital memories,” said Jef Holove, CEO of Eye-Fi. “Even better, we’re able to offer this new convenience and flexibility to current users as well as new customers.” Beginning October 5, new and existing Eye-Fi card owners can easily add features that are not already included on their cards and renew annual services.. Eye-Fi has also announced plans to expand its distribution internationally to Japan and Canada by the end of the year.

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Leica and Phase One have agreed to enter into a long-term strategic alliance in the technical development and marketing of professional photography products. Close cooperation has also been decided upon for the expansion of effective service and marketing structures. ‘Our two companies are an outstanding match for each other due to the similarity of their corporate cultures, their extraordinary innovative strengths and their dedication to absolute quality. Together with Phase One we will soon be able to begin offering professional customers a new range of products and services.’ commented CEO of Leica Camera AG, Dr Andreas Kaufmann.

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FotoTV, the largest online archive of films about photography of its kind, launches its English site FotoTV.com. ‘FotoTV’s unique and qualified online archive offers every enthusiast direct access to a host of artists, photographers and knowledge. What is unique about FotoTV is that viewers have access to a large number of films from just one site’ explains FotoTV founder, Marc Ludwig. FotoTV are offering new registered users 15 films free of charge in addition to a special introductory offer of €29.90 (approximately 42.60 $) for a year’s subscription, including more than 40 films at launch.

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Microsoft have released the second version of Pro Photo Tools, a set of tools for photographers to perform various tasks with their images. The highlights of Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2 include:

- Support for reading and writing metadata to/from XMP side cars so that metadata will interoperate with Adobe products. This is in addition to reading and writing from the file.
- Users can convert from RAW to JPEG, TIFF, and HD Photo using “As Shot” settings. This includes the ability to resize the image.
- Users can view actual RAW image in addition to thumbnails
- Support for 64-bit Windows
- Support for international locales
- Improved UI for geotagging your photos

Website: Download Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2

The Seattle Sling is a new waterproof camera bag from the makers of Camera Armor. The Seattle Sling features complete protection from the elements, featuring interior dry-bag technology that provides weather-proof protection in addition to impact safety. Zipper-free with a sealed dry bag that is proven to hold air-tight even when fully submerged in water, the Seattle Sling is available now for $149.95.

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HP Baryte Satin Art Paper delivers the look and feel of traditional argentic baryte papers. HP Baryte Satin Art Paper is designed with an acid buffered fiber base substrate, an authentic baryte smooth surface coating and a high-performance inkjet layer, which delivers long-lasting prints and exceptional image quality. HP Baryte Satin Art Paper is optimized for black and white and color prints, portraits, vintage photo reproductions, restorations and style renderings. Expected to be available worldwide ffrom Oct. 1, 2008, pricing for HP Baryte Satin Art Paper starts at $130 for a 610mm x 15.2m roll.

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Samsung have introduced NaBee, a wirelss USB connection for digital cameras. Samsung NaBee allows for a simple, high-speed wireless communication between a digital still camera and PC. Plug the miniature dongle into the camera USB connector, and its matching dongle into the PC and it connects just like a standard USB cable. NaBee will be available in December 2008.

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Nikon have just released a firmware update, version 1.11, for the 10 megapixel Nikon D80 DSLR camera. Version 1.11 resolves an issue which, in rare cases, causes the battery indicator to blink whilst shooting regardless of the level of charge in the battery.

Website: Nikon D80 Firmware Update 1.11 (Windows)
Website: Nikon D80 Firmware Update 1.11 (Mac)

Monday, September 29, 2008

Pentax’s Sales & Marketing Director of Imaging Systems, Mr. Toshiaki Iue, who recently joined the company in July, has stated that “Pentax’s relationship with Samsung is not perfect – there are some issues”, but went on to say that the two companies would continue their technology partnership for at least the near future. In a wide-ranging round-table interview held at Photokina, Mr Iue candidly answered questions on a wide range of topics, including Pentax’s future plans for their long-delayed digital 645 medium format camera, the potential impact of Micro Four Thirds, and their relationship with parent company Hoya.

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