Adobe is about to release version 3.2 of Camera Raw for Photoshop CS2. Support for the following cameras has been added from Camera Raw 3.1 to 3.2.

  * Panasonic - DMC-LX1, DMC-FZ30
  * Hasselblad - H2D (DNG)
  * Konica Minolta - Alpha Sweet Digital (Japan), Alpha-5 Digital (China), Maxxum 5D (USA), Dynax 5D (Europe)
  * Leaf - Valeo 17, Aptus 22
  * Leica - D-Lux 2, Digital-Modul-R (DNG)
  * Nikon - D2Hs, D70s, D50, Coolpix 8400, Coolpix 8800

Website: Adobe Camera RAW 3.2

Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8 video editing software is released. The box and electronic download versions of MediaStudio Pro 8 are available at $399.99 through retail channels and Ulead Websites. Current MediaStudio Pro users can upgrade for $249.99, and users of VideoStudio and DVD Workshop can upgrade for $299.99, also from Ulead Websites.

Ulead Systems Press Release

New version 8 offers complete HDV and DV editing solution in an intuitive package

Taiwan - September 20, 2005 - Ulead Systems, Inc., a 16-year industry leader in video, image and DVD software, today announced it has started shipping Ulead® MediaStudio® Pro 8, the latest version of Ulead’s professional video editing software. The new release offers a professional, yet easy-to-use, approach to video editing suitable for video enthusiasts, newly-professional video editors, documentary filmmakers, wedding/event videographers and media producers in corporate and education.

“Version 8 is the most significant upgrade in the history of MediaStudio Pro,” said Lewis Liaw, president of Ulead Systems. “We listened carefully to what our loyal users want, and the result is a future-ready application with extensive HDV support, a streamlined workflow and ground breaking features such as the new Smart Compositor.”

Google Press Release

GOOGLE RELEASES PHOTO MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE ACROSS EUROPE TO HELP USERS ORGANISE, EDIT AND SHARE PICTURES

Picasa Offers Editing Tools, Advanced Effects, Better Organization and CD Burning for Digital Photo Users - For Free

Google Inc. today released Picasa in six European countries (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands). Picasa is a free photo management software application that makes it simpler than ever for people to, edit and share their digital pictures. Available at http://picasa.google.co.uk and other relevant country URLs, Google’s Picasa offers photographers of all skill levels easy-to-use tools that automatically organise even the largest photo collections on a PC and turn average snapshots into great pictures.

New Digital Photo Editing and Image Processing Software Debuts at DEMOfall 2005; Light Crafts Announces LightZone for Mac OS(R) X Tiger

PALO ALTO, Calif. & HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sept. 20, 2005—Light Crafts, Inc. today announced LightZone for Mac OS X Tiger. Unlike the pixel-paint model of many existing applications, LightZone allows photographers to edit and process their images in terms of light and objects instead of pixels. Designed specifically for photographers, the intuitive solution significantly reduces the time necessary to produce better photographs and optimizes the images for print or other media output.

LightZone for Mac OS X Tiger photo editing software was publicly previewed for the first time at DEMOfall 2005. The annual DEMO conference is one of the world’s premier forums for new technology innovations and focuses on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace.

Triscape Inc. Press Release

Users Have the Full Power of FxFoto to Securely Archive, Organize, Edit and Scrapbook Photos on Any PC Using the U3 Smart Drive Computing Platform

WINDHAM, N.H., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/—DEMOfall—Triscape Inc., makers of the popular FxFoto(R) software for digital photographers, today announced that Portable Pictures(TM) is available on the U3(TM) smart drive computing platform. FxFoto Portable Pictures, the first photo software designed specifically for traveling and on-the-go digital photo users, is a complete suite designed to run directly from U3 powered USB smart drives, occupying only a few megabytes and leaving more than enough room for digital image storage.

U3 smart drives create a private and portable workspace that simply plugs into any computer. Applications such as FxFoto can be carried on any U3 powered USB smart drive and launched on any PC running Windows XP or 2000 for a highly mobile and secure computing experience. FxFoto Portable Pictures allows users to not only take their pictures with them, but also carry a complete application to manage, edit and share them.

FotoWare Press Release

FotoWare has released FotoStation Pro for Mac OS X

With more than 2,5 million licenses sold worldwide FotoStation is the leading digital imaging workstation application.

Finally the Mac OS X version of FotoStation Pro is available! Many users have been waiting for the Pro version of FotoStation. FotoStation Classic for OS X however has been on the market for almost a year now. Since FotoStation Pro offers an additional edit menu, today’s release makes a highly demanded enhancement for repro workers and advanced users on Mac OS X clients. For fast picture prosessing and colour management tasks FotoStation Pro also utilizes the advanced technology from FotoWare’s own media processing and production workflow tool Color Factory. When connecting FotoStation Pro to FotoWare’s Index Manager the user can have immediate access to millions of pictures.

REALVIZ Press Release

Latest Release of Award-winning Panorama Software Adds Range of New Features, Including Full Automatic Engine

Sophia Antipolis, France (September 13, 2005) - REALVIZ has confirmed, that they will begin shipment of version 5 of their multi award-winning panorama software, Stitcher this month. Stitcher is a professional-level application, used by thousands of professional photographers, architects, multimedia and 3D artists worldwide, and enables the creation of superb wide-angle panoramas for the Web, film, print, and 3D.

Stitcher 5 represents a considerable advance on the current version of the software, with a range of exciting new features, including most notably the introduction of a full automatic stitching engine, as well as a completely new user interface, with a full-screen 3D window to maximize the working area.

Breeze Systems Press Release

Breeze Systems’ Downloader Pro 1.7 creates a backup copy of photos as they are downloaded

14 September 2005: Breeze Systems today released Downloader Pro 1.7, the company’s powerful yet simple tool to transfer digital photos from camera to PC. Downloader Pro renames and stores images with file and directory names chosen by the user to automate the process of transferring images from a camera or card reader to PC.

Downloader Pro v1.7 includes a new plug-in to protect valuable images by automatically making a second backup copy of each image as it is downloaded. Also new in this release is the ability to automatically synchonize the clock in Canon cameras making it simple to synchronize the clocks of mutiple cameras and to avoid annoying problems like forgetting to change the camera’s clock at the end of Daylight Saving Time.

ACD Systems Press Release

ACD Systems Releases ACDSee™ 8 Photo Manager – the Fastest, Most Powerful Software for Taking Control of Your Growing Photo Collection

New search, organize, edit and sharing capabilities will enhance the way photo enthusiasts manage their growing numbers of digital pictures

VICTORIA, British Columbia – Sept. 7, 2005 – ACD Systems International Inc. (TSX: ASA), makers of ACDSee™ photo management software and Canvas™ technical illustration software, today announced ACDSee™ 8 Photo Manager for photography enthusiasts. With the release of ACDSee 8, ACD Systems sets the standard in both speed and usability for enthusiasts who manage rapidly growing collections of digital photos.

According to the Photo Marketing Association, more than 20 billion digital images will be taken this year in the United States alone. As cameras and camera phones create opportunities to shoot and store more pictures, it becomes increasingly difficult for enthusiasts to find, organize and share their digital photos. Family photo lovers, nature photo enthusiasts and creative amateurs alike are discovering they require advanced photo management capabilities when their photo collections exceed 500 photos.

Nikon Press Release

MELVILLE, NY (September 2, 2005) - Nikon Inc. notes the recent announcement made by Adobe(R) with regard to the mutual interest of both companies for the advancement of digital photography and the RAW file format. Nikon looks forward to future developments in this direction. Below is a copy of the announcement made by Adobe:

Adobe and Nikon are both enthusiastic about the continued innovation of digital imaging technology.  Both companies recognize that ongoing advancement in current RAW formats is bringing a new level of control, precision, and quality to the photography community and are excited about helping to foster that innovation.

Adobe is committed to working with Nikon to ensure that our common customers have an excellent experience when using Nikon cameras with Adobe software, and the company is disappointed that there has been confusion about this in the market. Adobe wants to ensure that our common customers get the very best quality from their photos when using our products together.

Canon USA Press Release

New Color Management System for Windows Vista Highlights Alliance Between Microsoft and Canon

New Windows Color System to Provide Greater Color Accuracy and Fidelity for Windows-Based PCs.

REDMOND, Wash.—Sept. 13, 2005— Microsoft Corp. and Canon Inc. today announced another major milestone resulting from the companies’ strategic alliance: a new color management system for the upcoming Microsoft® Windows Vista™ operating system. The new Windows® Color System will enable greater fidelity and predictability of color throughout Microsoft’s new operating system. The system will provide better screen-to-print matching, better overall color appearance, and support for higher fidelity printing, giving users new tools to take advantage of the capabilities of today’s powerful color devices such as digital cameras and color printers.

ProFotoSoftware Press Release

ProFotoSoftware, the UK based Digital Imaging Software House, today announced their strategy to eliminate the artificial gap created by proprietary (‘Raw’) Image Formats that are produced by many digital cameras.

This gap is the need to firstly ‘develop’ Raw Images into another format before performing the ‘traditional’ image adjustments such as sharpening, altering saturation and so forth. This has led to the creation of many Raw Development packages, of various costs and qualities, which photographers must use before they can access their images.

Said ProFotoSoftware Founder Andy Bell, “It is our intention to bridge the gap caused by Raw Image Formats by seamlessly integrating them into all our image editing products. Our software will no longer require separate treatment of Raw Images before they can be accessed and edited. “

H&M Systems Software Press Release

StudioLine Photo 2 Helps Photographers Email Perfectly Sized Pictures - Release 2.12 Streamlines Digital Imaging Workflow with Email Enhancements

Upper Saddle River, NJ; September 8, 2005—H&M Systems Software, Inc. today introduced Release 2.12 of its award-winning StudioLine® Photo 2 digital imaging software. This latest release streamlines digital imaging workflow by making it easy for photographers to meet critical email deadlines.

“StudioLine Photo 2.12 provides hobby and professional photographers with an efficient way to share photos in just the right size and format,” says Peter Oltersdorf, marketing director, H&M Software. “The level of flexibility and ease of use added to StudioLine 2.12 make it the best image management software in its price range.”

MAGIX Press Release

MAGIX PHOTOSTORY ON CD & DVD 4 TURNS PHOTO COLLECTIONS INTO MULTIMEDIA SLIDESHOWS

September 6, 2005, Miami, FL – MAGIX, the worldwide leader in music and video editing software1 announced today the new MAGIX Photostory on CD & DVD 4.  MAGIX Photostory on CD & DVD 4 gets more out of digital camera, mobile phone, video, and film camera snapshots.  By automatically fixing photos and adding exciting 3D transitions, fades, effects and sounds, the software turns simple photo collections into sophisticated multimedia slideshows.  Slideshows can then be easily burned onto CD or DVD and viewed on any TV or computer screen.  MAGIX Photostory on CD & DVD 4 will be available in stores for $39.99 starting September 15th and online at www.magix.com starting September 8th.

Corel Paint Shop Pro X and Corel Photo Album 6 software is announced today. Available for $129 US / £85, Corel Paint Shop Pro 10 includes Corel Photo Album 6 - Standard Edition, Pixmantec RawShooter essentials, two hours of free lynda.com video instruction and a printed user manual. Corel Photo Album 6 - Deluxe Edition is available for $49 US / £25. It includes PhotoRecovery software ($29 value), Xtras Scrapbook Templates, Volumes I and II ($40 value), Pixmantec RawShooter essentials, and a printed user guide.

Corel Press Release

Corel Corporation Announces Corel(R) Paint Shop Pro(R) X and Corel(R) Photo Album(TM) 6; Digital Imaging Software Sets New Standard in Ease of Use, Discoverability of Features
 
OTTAWA—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sept. 6, 2005—Corel Corporation today announced the release of Corel(R) Paint Shop Pro(R) X and Corel(R) Photo Album(TM) 6, two major new products from Corel’s digital imaging portfolio and the first versions of the software to be introduced since Corel’s acquisition of Jasc in October 2004. Corel Paint Shop Pro X and Corel Photo Album 6 will be widely available through Corel’s global channel partners over the coming weeks and through www.corel.com starting today. This is the first simultaneous worldwide shipment in the product line’s history.

Phase One Press Release

Copenhagen, Denmark: Phase One®, a world leader in professional digital imaging camera backs and software, is pleased to announce that the Capture One™ RAW Workflow Software is now available for sale in Apple® Store Europe.

Phase One’s popular RAW workflow software Capture One PRO is now available for on-line sales in Apple Store Europe. Trine Voss, VP Capture One sales & marketing states: “We are of course pleased that Apple Store Europe has shown an interest in our product. Apple is without a doubt one of the most respected brands in the digital photographic industry, and it makes a lot of sense for us to sell Capture One RAW workflow to Apple’s wide range of professional users. Phase One’s digital back sales have shown us that the majority of the high-end professional market chooses Mac OS as their preferred operating system, we are confident that they will also choose Capture One PRO as their preferred RAW workflow.”

Grazer allows you to sort pictures dependong on the place where they were taken using GPS information from a GPX-file. The software writes GPS-GeoData into the Exif information of your digital pictures and automatically synchronizes them with the GPS-Data. Even neater is the Exif Mapper application that the Grazer team have developed using Google Maps. It’s currently in Beta, but looks like a great way of visualising where particular photos were taken.

Thanks to Jens Schwoon for letting me know!

Website: Grazer Exif Mapper

The Plugin Site Press Release

August 26, 2005 - The Plugin Site (www.thepluginsite.com) is pleased to announce the release of the MacOS X version of ColorWasher. ColorWasher is a plugin for correcting the colors, contrast, exposure and saturation of 8bit and 16bit photos. It works with various Adobe applications, e.g. Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Image Ready and Illustrator. ColorWasher takes photo correction to a new level of accuracy and speed. With its help even beginners are capable of doing photo corrections within seconds that only experts were able to produce in the past.

Overview
ColorWasher features a wide range of automatic, semi-automatic and manual tools for correcting, enhancing and restoring photos. It is very easy to use as it offers interactive explanations and hints for each feature, incorporates an Easy Mode and detailed step-by-step instructions in the manual. ColorWasher lets you do professional photo corrections within seconds and also offers a Cloak mode for processing dozens of images very quickly.

Nikon Press Release

Nikon Capture 4 (Version 4.3.1 Update)

The latest update to Nikon’s powerful photo finishing software with improved RAW(NEF) image processing enables faster processing of image data with stress-free handling for image display and data saving.

Amsterdam, 22 August 2005. – Nikon is pleased to announce an update of Nikon Capture 4, version 4.3.1, which became available for download from August 22nd 2005. In response to users’ requests, the latest version of Nikon’s post-production tool has realized faster processing and stress-free handling of image data more than ever. Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is also supported.

Nikon Press Release

Nikon Capture 4 (Version 4.3.1 Update)

The latest update to Nikon’s powerful photo finishing software with improved RAW(NEF) image processing enables faster processing of image data with stress-free handling for image display and data saving.

Amsterdam, 22 August 2005. – Nikon is pleased to announce an update of Nikon Capture 4, version 4.3.1, which became available for download from August 22nd 2005. In response to users’ requests, the latest version of Nikon’s post-production tool has realized faster processing and stress-free handling of image data more than ever. Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is also supported.