Minox Press Release

With the release of the DMP-3 media player, MINOX adds yet another professional multi-talent to its product range. High-tech in a compact size, with an extremely attractive housing – the MINOX DMP-3 is another result of the successful and multi-award-winning cooperation between MINOX and Volkswagen-Design. Its real assets are the MPEG4 video player and the AV-recorder; but a digital photo album, MP3 player, voice recorder and USB memory are additional features. Playing and recording of videos via the integrated interface is a key function of the DMP-3. Films can be recorded and stored directly from a TV or DVD onto the tiny device by using a cable. MINOX uses the cutting-edge MPEG4 format with high quality for both pictures and sound despite the comparatively small file size. A built-in 128 MB flash memory and a slot for an SD card with a storage capacity of one gigabyte – which is sufficient for playing one film – serve as an electronic media-depot.

Sony Europe Press Release

Paris, 10 July, 2006 Sony Europe’s Recording Media & Energy (RME) division today announced the launch of the new 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo. Sony Memory Stick media are available in capacities ranging from 128MB to 4GB depending on their format (Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO High Speed and Memory Stick Micro) and are easily identifiable through a revitalised Sony packaging design, incorporating colour coding for easy identification of the different format line-ups as well as the different capacity. In addition, all Memory Stick Duo and PRO Duo media now come complete with a standard size Memory Stick adaptor to enable use with standard size Memory Stick compatible devices - as well as the Duo size compatible products.

JOBO AG Press Release

Gummersbach, Germany (July 7, 2006) –  JOBO AG announces today that the JOBO GIGA Vu Pro evolution digital image storage and viewing device has been awarded the prestigious eighth annual American Photo Editor’s Choice 2006 Award in the Storage & Display category. In choosing the JOBO GIGA Vu PRO evolution, the editors of American Photo said, “With a bright, beautiful 3.7-inch screen, this portable multimedia player gives the Epson P-4000 stiff competition. Rubberized and shock-resistant, it offers super fast transfers from CF cards; its DVI output lets you run a digital projector directly from the unit. Our favorite feature, though, is the Evolution’s ability to receive images wirelessly from a Wi-Fi D-SLR.”

auspicousdragon.net have a short review of the Leica R9 and DIGITAL-MODUL-R 10 Megapixel digital back.

“mirror lock-up: this is really how it should be on all cameras. A switch (not a button) on the camera takes you from normal to mirror lock-up mode. In mirror lock-up mode you have to fire the camera twice to take a picture (using any of the shutter triggers or cable releases). The first trip puts the mirror up. The second takes the exposure. This means you have complete control over how long the mirror is up, and you can decide exactly when you want the exposure taken.”

Website: auspicousdragon.net - Leica R9 and DIGITAL-MODUL-R Review

Colour Confidence Press Release

Birmingham UK, 27th June, 2006 - Colour Confidence, the leading independent colour management specialists, have today announced a new development in their product offering. Customers visiting www.colourconfidence.com will now have the chance to purchase a range of high-quality Pantone and PermaJet consumables which will be valuable additions to the digital workflow of many users. “At Colour Confidence we feel this is an obvious development; our customers have been asking us to provide recommendations on consumable products and by selecting PermaJet and Pantone as key partners we are recognising the quality of their solutions.” Commented Geoffrey Clements, Managing Director, Colour Confidence. “We aim to be a one-stop-shop when it comes to accurate colour and will continue to respond to our customers in order to achieve this.”

Direct Source Marketing (DSM) Press Release

CONCORD, CA,  June 22, 2006 – A joint venture between Rolleiflex and Horseman today announced one of the widest angle cameras on the market, Horseman SW-D Pro, which accepts digital camera backs to give professional and high-end consumer photographers wide angle opportunities that weren’t available in the past for medium format digital photography. Some of the possibilities not generally accessible for medium format digital photography in the past include super wide angle lenses and bellows-like movements.

Canon are set to meet their target of a 46% profit rise for camera sales, reports Reuters. “Iwashita said it may top that figure on robust sales of new products, including the EOS 30D (pictured) digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera, a high-end model launched in March that features a 8.2 megapixel image sensor and sells for about 160,000 yen ($1,386).” Canon also said that they will not enter a price war with the likes of Sony and Panasonic, two new entrants to the DSLR market.

Website: Reuters - Canon says camera division may beat estimate

DALSA Semiconductor Press Release

DALSA Semiconductor, a division of DALSA Corporation (TSX:DSA), an international high performance semiconductor and electronics company, announced today that it has successfully fabricated and delivered the world’s highest resolution image sensor chip to its customer, Semiconductor Technology Associates (“STA”) of San Juan Capistrano, California. The CCD device, which measures approximately four inches by four inches, has a total resolution of over 111 million pixels (10,560 pixels x 10,560 pixels at 9µm). It is the world’s first imager to break the 100 million pixel barrier.

Georgia Institute of Technology Press Release

Newswise — Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have completed a prototype device that can block digital-camera function in a given area. Commercial versions of the technology could be used to stymie unwanted use of video or still cameras.

The prototype device, produced by a team in the Interactive and Intelligent Computing division of the Georgia Tech College of Computing (COC), uses off-the-shelf equipment – camera-mounted sensors, lighting equipment, a projector and a computer—to scan for, find and neutralize digital cameras. The system works by looking for the reflectivity and shape of the image-producing sensors used in digital cameras. Gregory Abowd, an associate professor leading the project, says the new camera-neutralizing technology shows commercial promise in two principal fields – protecting limited areas against clandestine photography or stopping video copying in larger areas such as theaters.

Epson Press Release

- TOKYO, Japan, June 12, 2006 - Seiko Epson Corp. (“Epson”) has successfully developed A6-size (7.1 inches on the diagonal) electronic paper using a plastic substrate. Drawing on Epson’s original SUFTLA*1 technology, the new electronic paper achieves Quad-XGA resolution (1536 x 2048 pixels) – the world’s highest*2 – and shows the potential for increasing screen size. The development was announced on June 9 at the Society for Information Display (SID) international symposium held in San Francisco.

Seagate Press Release

Innovative, new home network solution makes its exclusive debut at J&R Music and Computer World retail store

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.—14 June 2006— Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX) today introduced a breakthrough way for consumers, creative pros and small business owners to quickly find, share, organize, view and enjoy their digital content and files. The new Maxtor Fusion(tm) personal media solution from Seagate provides one safe, central location on your network to hold large amounts of digital photos, videos, music and documents. It includes a simple, yet powerful interface and a rich web application, licensed from software maker Fabrik Inc., that makes it easy and fast to organize, retrieve, access, blend and assemble all types of multimedia content for sharing personal experiences, events and memories with others over the web, either privately or publicly in a secure manner.

Colour Confidence Press Release

Birmingham UK, 12th June, 2006 - Colour Confidence, the leading independent colour management specialists have today unveiled their brand new colour management package, the Studio XR. Unique to Colour Confidence, it includes a monitor profiling package based around the Monaco Optix XR, the Kodak Color Management Check-Up Kit, and an inkjet paper test pack. Studio XR is available at an introductory price of £99/€149 ex. VAT from www.colourconfidence.com . Studio XR is designed to provide users with an easy-to-use colour management solution in a box.

PQI Press Release

PQI Releases 0.12 in. Thin Credit Card Sized Card Drive(TM) with 16GB Capacity

FREMONT, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—June 7, 2006—PQI Corporation, a leading manufacturer of digital media solutions, today introduced Card Drive(TM) U510, a state of the art portable storage device with breakthrough in USB technology and innovative design. The drive itself is only 0.12 in. thin credit card sized, holds a maximum capacity of 16GB. Card Drive(TM) uses PQI’s own patented Intelligent Stick technology; it is compatible with USB 2.0/1.1 ports. The Card Drive(TM) with Intelligent Stick retractable connector can be stowed away to retain a credit card format. “For consumers who crave for flash based storage device with large storage capacity and sleek design, Card Drive(TM) is the perfect choice,” said Lindy Chan, Product Manager of USB Drive at PQI. With 16GB capacity, Card Drive(TM) is many times the storage capacity of the largest USB drive available on the market today. Light and durable, its shock proof and low power consumption characteristics outweigh traditional hard drives.

Epson UK Press Release

Epson introduces the EMP-S4, a versatile 3LCD video projector that provides office and classroom users with improved brightness and greater performance at an affordable price.

08th June 2006 – Epson’s EMP-S4 projector offers sharp, clear images and outstanding brightness.  It features 1800 ANSI lumens, a contrast ratio of 500:1, an A/V mute slide and quick start up/shut down time. The projector also comes with the latest in 3LCD technology, ensuring smooth, natural images and excellent colour reproduction. With a native SVGA resolution and the highest level of brightness is the result of Epson’s Twin Optimise Reflection Lamp (E-TORL) technology - a high performance lens that gathers and projects light efficiently, eliminates light-leakage and minimises light diffraction. This means that the EMP-S4 can be used in the brightest of environments, without compromising image quality.

Kingston Technology Press Release

High-Capacity Cards Ideal for Photographers Who Need to Create Large Files for Reproduction

Fountain Valley, CA – June 5, 2006 – Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, announced it is expanding its line of CompactFlash Elite Pro cards with the addition of a new 8-GB card. The card is an ideal storage choice for studio, catalog and portrait photographers who need to produce large files for catalog reproduction and other commercial purposes. The addition of the 8-GB CompactFlash Elite Pro card completes one of the most comprehensive lines of Flash memory card solutions in the industry — including 512 MB, 1-GB, 2-GB and 4-GB CompactFlash cards. Kingston’s Elite Pro line meets the increased demands of today’s professional photographers by delivering reliability and dependability and providing a memory solution to suit their specific capacity needs.

Samsung Electronics Press Release

SEOUL, South Korea—June 4, 2006—Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest provider of thin-film transistor, liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, will introduce a 3.5” LCD with embedded touch screen, and the first-ever 7” LCD driven by a single chip, at the 2006 Society for Information Display International Symposium and Exhibition(SID) in San Francisco, California, USA. Also at SID, one of the world’s largest events dedicated to displays, Samsung is unveiling widescreen versions of 24”, 27” and 30” monitors for specialty-market, digital information displays, as well as a 21.3” black-and-white monitor with clearer X-ray viewing for medical applications.

Odyssey Press Release

The world’s only digital enlarger just became better, and taking full advantage of its added facilities is one of the world’s leading photographic colleges.

The Odyssey De Vere 504DS digital enlarger, which has the unique capability to photographically expose the image from a digital file onto traditional black-and-white or colour paper, has been upgraded with a new LCD image processor giving more than twice the resolving power of its original configuration. In addition, new, user-friendly software has been installed to make the enlarger even easier to handle. First to take advantage of the new 504DS is the London College of Fashion which has installed eight systems into its darkrooms where up to 400 students on the College’s specialist fashion photography courses have been taking full advantage of the facilities incorporated in the systems. The 17.2-megapixel processors enable extreme levels of fidelity when printing the results of the students’ work in the studio. “This system is really superb,” comments Nigel Tribbett, the College’s chief photographer who runs the courses.

HP Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO, May 31, 2006 - Driving growth across its $25 billion imaging and printing business, HP today announced a fleet of products for fall, the expansion of its Halo Collaboration Studio business and two company milestones. HP rolled out more than 100 imaging and printing products for the home and home office, including six HP Photosmart printers and all-in-ones based on the company’s scalable printing technology to deliver the industry’s fastest printing speeds(1) at affordable prices - as low as $129(2); HP’s first printer with a touch-activated image display for an easy-to-use, kiosk-like printing experience in the home; the industry’s first compact photo printer capable of storing up to 4,000 photos; and four ultra-compact digital cameras.

Canon UK Press Release

LONDON, 31 May, 2006 – Canon Europe’s position as a leading provider of imaging technology solutions has been reconfirmed by IDC, ahead of the release of the industry analyst’s forthcoming Western European digital camera market forecast report , in which Canon is positioned as the 2005 market leader for the fourth consecutive year. The forthcoming IDC sector report will show that, despite increased market competition, Canon has retained the No.1 position in 2005 and claims 16.5% of the overall Western European digital camera market, which saw total shipments of 27 million units (up from 25 million in 2004). IDC has calculated combined sales for Canon in 2005 of more than 4 million units for SLR (D-SLR) and compact digital cameras, allowing the company to double its lead over closest competitor Sony from 2.8% to 5.6%.

Toshiba Press Release

Toshiba’s 2GB miniSD Memory Card to Launch in Global Market

TOKYO - Toshiba Corporation today announced an expanded line-up of large capacity miniSD memory cards with the introduction of a 2GB capacity card. The new Toshiba-branded miniSD will be launched in the world market in mid June 2006. The miniSD card is much smaller than a standard SD memory card but delivers increasingly large capacity. Its primary application is in mobile devices with miniSD slots, but it can also be used in standard SD slots with an adapter.