The Plugin Site Press Release 03/11/03

November 3, 2003 - The Plugin Site (http://www.thepluginsite.com) is proud to announce Version 1.01 of FocalBlade, a Photoshop-compatible plugin for sharpening your photos for screen display and printing as well as for producing great looking blur, soft focus and glow effects on 8bit and 16bit images. FocalBlade lets you sharpen photos without amplifying noise or artifacts and produces impressive sharpening results even on low quality images. FocalBlade is the second product in our new PhotoWiz product line, which sets a new standard for photo correction tools.

New in Version 1.01
FocalBlade 1.01 can now process huge images with very little RAM and renders up to 10% faster at low RAM. It features better sharpening, because it increases saturation and brightness less when sharpening. There are new Highlights and Shadows sliders on the Fix tab sheet for reducing the sharpening or blurring in the highlight and shadow areas. The White/Black Halo sliders work more precisely and also affect the surface area. Support for grayscale images (8 bit and 16 bit) has been added, too. Version 1.0 displayed a semi-transparent preview when applied on layers in 16bit mode in Photoshop CS. This problem has been fixed in Version 1.01. Smaller enhancements include the usage of the Alt key to move the preview image with the left mouse button, the improvement of the Undo button to remove or restore the sample area and an expanded Tips section in the manual.

Lexar Media?s New Image Rescue 2.0 Recovers ?Lost? Photos From Any Memory Card Format From Any Manufacturer

Lexar Media Offers Professional Photographers the Industry?s Most Reliable and Comprehensive Digital Media Solution

NEW YORK, October 30, 2003—(PhotoPlus Expo) Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a leading manufacturer and marketer of high-performance digital media and accessories, today introduced Image Rescue 2.0, an enhanced version of its popular image recovery software. With Image Rescue 2.0, Lexar Media has significantly expanded the number of memory cards from which the software can recover data. Image Rescue 2.0 can now recover ?lost? or deleted digital images from any memory card, regardless of format or manufacturer. In addition, Image Rescue 2.0 offers expanded reader support and can be used with all mass storage compliant card readers including FireWire and USB 2.0, which enable considerably faster image recovery time. Image Rescue 2.0 will be demonstrated at PhotoPlus Expo booth #336, from October 30 through November 1, 2003.

Image Rescue 2.0 is designed to go to the root of the card?s data structure to identify and retrieve deleted or lost images, even if the computer does not recognize the card. Image Rescue 2.0 can retrieve image files in all popular file formats including JPEG, TIFF, and most RAW file formats from leading camera manufacturers. In many cases, Image Rescue 2.0 can even recover document files including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

?The most common causes of data loss are due to interruption of power in a host device or premature removal from a host device,? said John Omvik, director, OEM and pro product marketing, Lexar Media. ?In these cases, Image Rescue 2.0 can recover lost image data and reformat or reconstruct the memory card?s DOS FAT file. In addition, Image Rescue 2.0 has the unique ability to permanently erase confidential data from memory cards and prevent data from being recovered in the future.?

FlashFixers Press Release 30/10/03

FlashFixers Offers Digital Camera Users Professional-Grade Photo Recovery with ImageRecall 2.0

ImageRecall 2.0 improves the reliability of digital film with new advanced professional features and a 95 percent recovery success rate when photo data still exists on the memory card.

PhotoPlus?New York, NY?October 30, 2003? FlashFixers announces the U.S. availability of ImageRecall 2.0, a professional-grade photo recovery program that retrieves lost images, data and sound files from flash memory cards. According to the Photo Marketing Association, digital camera sales are expected to outpace sales of film-based cameras in 2003. This increasing popularity can be attributed to recent improvements in picture resolution that make it possible to take digital photos that are the same quality as film. Unlike film however, digital images are subject to losses from accidental deletions, reformatting and random corruptions. With more dependence than ever on digital film for keepsake images and professional shoots, losing digital pictures can be devastating.

?Today, lost digital images have replaced the nightmare of ruined film and drug store developing disasters,? according to Kevin Bordley from ImageRecall. ?For professional and amateur digital photographers, we offer piece of mind that their valuable photos can be saved in most cases.?

?We take photos that if lost, simply can?t be replaced,? notes professional wedding photographers, Jay and Aubrey Berry, ?We had a card reader that went bad and corrupted two cards that were filled with wedding shots. When we used ImageRecall and saw that the photos were all there and that no quality was lost in the recovery, we just sat in tears thinking about how the software saved our business.?

Kodak Press Release 30/10/03

Free Trial version of the new DIGITAL SHO Professional Plug-In is now available at www.asf.com

Rochester, NY (October 30, 2003) ? Eastman Kodak Company today introduced the new DIGITAL SHO Professional Plug-In, which optimizes contrast and exposure to reveal hidden details in highlight and shadow areas of digital images from sources including digital cameras, flatbed/film scanners, Picture CDs, and the Internet.

The DIGITAL SHO Professional Plug-In joins the suite of image correction and enhancement plug-ins to provide easy and effective methods for automatically improving digital images in ADOBE PHOTOSHOP and compatible image editing applications. Other members of the suite include the DIGITAL ROC Plug-In for color correction/restoration, the DIGITAL GEM Plug-In for noise and grain reduction, and the original DIGITAL SHO Plug-In for revealing hidden details in shadows or dark image areas. These award-winning software products were developed and launched by KODAK?s Austin Development Center, formerly Applied Science Fiction, which has been a leader in automatic image correction and photo restoration applications since the mid 1990s with its revolutionary DIGITAL ICE Technology for film scanners which automatically removes surface defects like dust and scratches from scanned film.

Adobe Press Release 27/10/03

New Full-Upgrade Versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and GoLive Hit the Streets Soon

SAN JOSE, Calif. ? October 27, 2003 ? Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) today shipped Adobe? Creative Suite. Adobe Creative Suite combines new full-version upgrades of the company?s market-leading creative professional software ? Adobe Photoshop? CS, Adobe Illustrator? CS, Adobe InDesign? CS, and Adobe GoLive? CS. It also incorporates Acrobat? 6.0 Professional, and introduces the innovative Version Cue? file version manager. The all-new Adobe Creative Suite is a complete design environment that gives today?s creative professionals everything they need to create and publish content to print and the Web faster, more easily, and more efficiently than ever.

Adobe will announce shipment of new full-version upgrades of its market-leading creative applications later this week. Photoshop CS, the feature-packed successor to the highly popular Photoshop 7, will soon be available along with Illustrator CS, InDesign CS and GoLive CS ? all already hailed as significant enhancements on previous versions. Instead of traditional version numbers, Adobe is now using ?CS? to identify these new versions, in order to better reflect the deep level of integration between its creative tools. Pricing and complete product information for Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, InDesign CS and GoLive CS can be found at: www.adobe.co.uk.

?Adobe Creative Suite is a platform for the future of design and publishing, something creative professionals around the world can rely on to build their businesses and perfect their craft,? said Jim Heeger, senior vice president of Creative Professional Products at Adobe. ?With powerful new hardware hitting the market and Adobe Creative Suite pushing the boundaries of software innovation, the technology available to the creative industries has just taken a huge leap forward.?

ACD Systems Press Release 27/10/03

ACD Systems Releases Latest Version of its Photo Editing Software ? ACD FotoCanvas 3.0

Easy step-by-step Photo Correction Wizard guides users through common editing tasks

VICTORIA, British Columbia ? October 27, 2003 - ACD Systems International Inc. (TSX: ASA), the digital imaging company and makers of ACDSee? and Canvas?, today released ACD FotoCanvas 3.0, the newest version of its photo editing software program.  ACD FotoCanvas is an affordable and easy-to-use program with all of the essential tools needed to enable users to make edits to their digital photos and create simple web graphics. New workflow enhancement features in ACD FotoCanvas 3.0 include the Dodge and Burn tool, the ability to add Bubble Talk to images, an easy step-by-step Photo Correction Wizard and a Professional Color Management system.

ACD FotoCanvas 3.0 quickly fixes digital photo lighting errors, such as lightening a person?s face or darkening an outdoor image, with its Dodge and Burn tool. The new Bubble Talk and Thought Text features allow users to personalize their images with quotes or comic-strip effects. The easy step-by-step Photo Correction Wizard quickly guides users through a series of common photo editing and photo enhancing tasks. These include rotate, crop, sharpen, adjust color levels, red-eye reduction and fix color cast for removing unwanted hue from images.

Picasa Press Release 22/10/03

Picasa Launches “Hello” - The Easiest Way to Securely Share Digital Photos

Hello enables friends to instantly share high resolution pictures, chat about them, and print them at home or online

Pasadena, CA ?- October 22, 2003 - Picasa, Inc.(tm), the leading developer of software which enables photographers to effortlessly organize, manage and share digital photos, announces the availability of Hello, a completely new way to share digital pictures.  For consumers with an Internet connection, Hello opens a private peer-to-peer network link that enables friends to instantly share and chat about digital photographs.

Hello is offered as a free download at www.hello.com and can be used with or without Picasa, the company’s award-winning digital photo organizing software. For consumers who have Picasa, Hello is automatically integrated, allowing one-click photo sharing.  To share photos using Hello, consumers simply select the pictures they would like to send in Picasa, click the “Send to Hello” button and specify the person to receive them.  Immediately, those images appear on their contact’s Hello window.  Users can see which pictures their friend is viewing and can chat about them in real-time. Hello makes it simple to send single photos or hundreds without the need for attachments or uploading to websites.  Consumers who do not have Picasa can use Windows Explorer to select pictures to share.

Any pictures received via Hello are automatically organized and stored in a Picasa album, organized by the sender’s name.  To print high quality prints at home, Hello automatically retrieves the high-resolution version of a picture from the sender, eliminating the need to send email requests back and forth.

“Hello recreates the experience of sitting down on your couch with a friend and showing them your photo album,” says Lars Perkins, CEO of Picasa. “With Hello, you can watch your friends’ reaction as they see your pictures, instead of waiting hours or days for a reply.  Unlike e-mail, Hello lets you send 50 pictures just as quickly as sending 5, and your friends will always be able to choose and print the pictures they like best.”

Sue Chastain, editor of the Graphics Software section of About.com, has let me know that several software reviews have recently been published, including a review of the new image management program Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0. Also, expect to see reviews of Extensis Smartscale, Facefilter and ThumbsPlus in the near future.

Website: Photoshop Album 2.0 Review

Website: ACDSee 6 Review

Website: Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9 Review

Website: PhotoArtMaster Gold Review

ACD Systems Press Release 21/10/03

ACD Systems Partners with Morpheus Software to Release New Plug-ins for ACDSee

Cool graphics programs allow users to animate digital images and morph video clips

VICTORIA, British Columbia ? October 21, 2003 - ACD Systems International Inc. (TSE:ASA), the digital imaging company, today announced the distribution of Morpheus photo animator software and Morpheus photo animator pro software. Morpheus is an award-winning graphics program that allows users to morph or warp photos, images and movies. Both programs were developed with ACD’s Software Development Kit (SDK) as a plug-in to ACD’s award- winning digital imaging software, ACDSee?. 

Morpheus photo animator software is a fun and easy-to-use program that enables individuals to create photo animations, presentations and greeting cards.  With the pro version, users can also morph video clips and movies. Designed for the everyday PC user, Morpheus also appeals to professionals such as dentists and surgeons who use morphed images to show before and after images to patients. Both programs support Shockwave Flash, Animated GIF, AVI, and JPEG file formats.  To morph two images together, users simply have to:
1. Load the images to be morphed.
2. Place dots on both images to define the motion of the morph.
3. Align the dots on both images.
4. Use the Preview Window to make minor adjustments to the images.
5. Render the new image into a viewable file format.

Canto Press Release 21/10/03

New version simplifies creation, management and deployment of Digital Asset Management Solutions for users, administrators and system integrators October 21, 2003, San Francisco, Berlin. Canto, the global leader in Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions, today announced ?Cumulus 6?. Workgroup and Enterprise Editions of this new version will be available at the end of November and are geared to professional users.

Both Editions offer many new features and explicit improvements that dramatically simplifies the users? daily work when managing their assets. Administrators now have all possibilities to administer the settings of an entire solution at the server. Furthermore, Cumulus 6 incorporates a new central user management. The newly introduced EJaP technology (Embedded Java PlugIn) enables both customers and especially system integrators to customize the available out-of-the-box solutions to meet customer needs. New functions can easily be added and Cumulus 6 can be integrated into any workflow, Enterprise Portal or Enterprise Content Management solution. Also, with Cumulus 6 Mac OS X clients will be offered for the first time.

One of the three essential design concepts behind Cumulus 6 is the application?s Ease-of-Use. Now all assets can be managed and made accessible centrally in one window. Also, an extra keyword list and the asset location can be displayed in addition to the categories. In Cumulus 6 users can easily switch between different views with preconfigured View Sets and even display the information they find relevant regarding to format or task. Cumulus 6 also offers Asset Handling Sets for optimized handling of different formats. These preconfigured sets can be edited and provided centrally by the administrator.

Award-winning photographer Scott Bourne has posted his mini-review of Photoshop CS.

“PHOTO FILTERS is proof of Adobe?s newfound awareness that photographers are using Photoshop. It?s a new Adjustment Layer that emulates the old screw-on filters like the 81A and 81B. If you want to quickly correct for light induced colorcasts, you are going to love this new feature.”

Website: Scott Bourne - Photoshop CS Review

The new RAW convertor software Capture One DSLR Rebel Edition, which is specifically designed for the Canon EOS 300D/Rebel digital SLR, is now available for the bargain introductory price of just $29 from the PictureFlow website. If you have a Canon EOS 300D and use RAW files, this may be the best $29 that you ever spend on your digital camera…

Website: PictureFlow

Pinnacle Systems Press Release 15/10/03

Pinnacle Systems Helps Consumers Preserve And Enjoy Their Memories With New Music, Photo And Video Disc Burning Products

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. 15/10/2003? Pinnacle Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLE) today announced the availability of three new products in its Instant product family which are designed to help consumers easily customize and burn their video, photo, and audio discs to enjoy on their CD or DVD player. Pinnacle Instant PhotoAlbum and Pinnacle Instant VideoAlbum let digital camera and camcorder users burn their digital images or video on a disc, along with editing capabilities. Pinnacle InstantCD/DVD version 8 is a suite of software applications that gives users everything they need to duplicate DVDs and CDs, create MP3 and audio CDs, author photo and video discs, and backup, restore and manage their data.

?Gone are the days where people have to crowd around a computer to share memories from a family wedding, a baby?s first steps, or last summer?s European vacation,? said Bill Loesch, vice president, product management and engineering for the Business and Consumer Division at Pinnacle Systems. ?Our Instant product family lets consumers experiment with their creativity while preserving their life?s memories in a format that will outlive their VHS tapes and will not bog down their hard drive.?

The German website digitalkamera.de has reviewed the full version of Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro Photo Album 4, which allows you to get your photos from camera to computer and then enhance, organize, and share them with Photo Album’s fast and easy-to-use tools. In other words it’s a direct competitor to Adobe Photoshop Album.

Website: digitalkamera.de - Paint Shop Pro Photo Album 4 Review

DPReview contributor Les Freed has reviewed the Olympus Studio software package, which is an optional extra for the Olympus E-1 DSLR, costing $150.

“This review, prepared by Les Freed examines the Studio software in some detail. Studio provides facilities for image transfer, browsing, viewing, editting, printing, RAW conversion and tethered camera operation. Overall Les was impressed (especially with the RAW conversion speed) but would have liked to have seen Studio making up a standard part of the E-1 Kit.”

Website: DPReview - Olympus Studio Software Review

Digital Outback Photo have posted an extensive preview of the new RAW convertor software, Capture One DSLR Rebel Edition, which is specifically designed for the Canon EOS 300D/Rebel digital SLR. I personally use Capture One DSLR LE with my EOS 10D, in preference to the software that Canon provides - it’s a lot faster and easy to use and well worth the $99 price tag.

“If you want to get the best quality out of your EOS 300D you need to use the raw file format (read our Shutterbug article to understand why). Unfortunately the Canon File Viewer Utility is not a very useable raw converter. This is not real problem as Capture One DSLR Rebel Edition provides a first class solution at only $49.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Capture One DSLR Rebel Edition Preview

If you’re wondering how Adobe Camera RAW is going to work in the recently announced Photoshop CS, then wonder no more, as Thomas Knoll, the guy who wrote this program, has added a lengthy explanation to the Adobe Forums.

Website: Adobe Forums - Thomas Knoll

Adobe have today announced a major upgrade to its popular software package, Photoshop Album. The estimated street price of Photoshop Album 2.0 is US$49.99. Registered users of the previous version of Adobe Photoshop Album or a competitive product also qualify for a US$15 mail-in rebate. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 plus Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 are available together for an estimated street price of US$129.99.

Website: Adobe.co.uk - Photoshop Album 2.0

Website: Adobe.co.uk - Photoshop Album 2.0 Overview

Adobe Press Release 06/10/03

Adobe Raises the Bar on Consumer Digital Photography Software with Photoshop Album 2.0  
 
Simple User Interface, New Calendar View, Sharing with Mobile Phones, Handhelds, TiVo Make Photoshop Album 2.0 a Perfect Digital Camera Companion

SAN JOSE, Calif. ? Oct. 6, 2003 (NASDAQ: ADBE) ? Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced Adobe? Photoshop? Album 2.0, a dramatic upgrade packed with new features and usability enhancements that allow consumers to quickly and easily find, fix, share and preserve digital photo memories. With a streamlined user interface, digital photographers can utilize the Microsoft? Windows?-based software to easily organize photos, fix common photography problems and create a wider variety of greeting cards, photo books, calendars and slide shows. Sharing photos with friends and family anywhere is simple with new options that provide the industry’s most comprehensive support for sending images to mobile phones, Palm OS handhelds and TiVo? Series2 digital video recorders.

First introduced in early 2003 Photoshop Album extends Adobe’s legendary Photoshop brand to consumers and new digital camera owners.

“Digital cameras will again be the hot holiday gift item this year and Photoshop Album 2.0 is the perfect companion to round out that purchase,” said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Digital Imaging and Video Products at Adobe. “We’ve simplified the user interface and added more options that make organizing, editing and sharing photos with anyone, anywhere easier than ever.”

Digital Outback Photo have reviewed Fred Miranda’s latest software plugin for photographers, ISOx Pro, which aims to reduce noise in digital photographs captured by both digital camera files and scanned film. Find out if ISOx Pro does the job in Digital Outback Photo’s review.

“Fred got some good reputation to make noise removal easy. His latest plug-in IsoX Pro helps you to get rid of some noise. We say “some” noise as you should not try to get rid of all the noise. Why? Because noise removal and keeping the details are at odds. The more aggressive you remove the noise the more you will lose detail. Fred’s plug-in does a nice job in keeping as much detail as possible.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - ISOx Pro Plugin Review

Fred Miranda has tody announced a new plugin which aims to reduce noise in digital photographs. The ISOx Pro PC and Mac Plugins are the result of many months of development. This professional tool offers an easy and efficient solution to quickly and affordably reduce noise from all digital camera files or scanned film. It uses noise reduction technology specifically designed to accommodate RAW or JPEG straight from the camera. With this new essential digital darkroom Photoshop plugin, photographers can count on precise results through powerful and flexible options.

Website: Fred Miranda