Kodak are reportedly making available pre-production versions of a new CMOS sensor for use in digital cameras and camera-phones. Developed in partnership with IBM, Kodak’s new sensors will actually be produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

“We are providing the component, not building the camera ... (and) making it easier for cell phone makers to incorporate them into their designs for mobile phones, which helps to grow the opportunity for the sensors we are launching.” said Kodak executive Mike felucca. “This helps get us to better cameras and addresses some cost issues for the end consumer.”

Website: Washington Post - Kodak says distributing new digital camera sensors

Kodak Press Release

Kodak Accelerates Move into Image Sensor Market for Consumer Devices

Company Delivers New Products, Forms New Alliances to Advance Imaging Capabilities for Camera Phones and Digital Cameras

ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 11—Eastman Kodak Company reached another milestone in its digital growth strategy with the announcement of innovative new image sensors for mass-market products such as camera phones and digital still cameras. The company also announced important new alliances that will extend its reach in the market for image sensors.

DIWA member LetsGoDigital have reviewed the ColorVision Spyder2 Plus. Dubbed the “Digital Darkroom in a Box”, Spyder2 Plus is a suite of tools for colour calibration and digital imaging. ColorVision Spyder2 Plus has a recommended price of $269.

“The Spyder2 package is very easy to use, and shows a remarkable difference in going from an uncalibrated screen to a calibrated one. I also tested the Spyder2 to see the difference between a “software calibrated” screen and the same screen calibrated using Spyder2. Using the ‘before and after’ calibration feature shows a vast difference between the two. At a glance it seems that colours are more saturated, more accurate and shades become somewhat more detailed.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - ColorVision Spyder2 Plus Review

Website: Read my Spyder2PRO Studio Review

Cameratown have just reviewed the Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox.

“The 6GB Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox is a very thin and lightweight Photo & MP3 player that connects to many digital camera’s to allow the transfer of images to it’s 6GB internal hard drive. Once the images are uploaded to the Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox, you can then format and re-use your digital camera memory to capture more photographs. While Gateway is not alone in this growing field of portable photo storage devices, its relatively low price, small size and feather like weight (3.5 ounces) could make it a viable option. Read the review to find out more. “

Website: Cameratown - Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox Review

DPNow have reviewed the Vosonic X’S Drive II Plus VP2160 (which I reviewed a few weeks ago).

“The VP2160 must be one of the simplest devices around. All you need to do is insert a memory card, wait a second for the card to be identified and you are then prompted to press the copy button. All files on the card are then copied into a new sequentially numbered folder on the VP2160’s hard drive. The card is not wiped, so the VP2160 can be used as a security back up device or you can simply format the card in the camera and re-use straight away.”

Website: DP-Now - Vosonic X’S Drive II Plus VP2160 Review

Website: Read my Vosonic X’S Drive II Plus VP2160 Review

Keith Cooper over at Northlight Images has just reviewed the GretagMacbeth Eye One Design calibration application.

“The Eye One spectrophotometer from GretagMacbeth is a sophisticated measuring device that can measure detailed spectral information from emissive sources (ambient light or a CRT/LCD display) or reflective sources (print samples or just about any coloured object) It is available with a number of different software options which enable different functionalities in the supplied software. retagMacbeth provide a range of colour management hardware and software aimed at professional users. The product that Keith specifically looks at here is the ‘Eye One Design’ package, which offers monitor calibration, emissive and reflective source measurement and basic RGB/CMYK printer profiling.”

Website: Northlight Images - GretagMacbeth Eye One Design Review

EDGE Tech Corp Press Release

DALLAS, June 21 /PRNewswire/—EDGE Tech Corp, a leading supplier of DRAM and Flash memory upgrades, portable computing products, storage devices, and other experience-enhancing technology solutions announced that its new 4GB DiskGO! USB 2.0 flash drive will begin shipping today.

“The continued explosive growth of the digital music and photo industries is really driving digital storage to a whole new level—and it’s still early,” stated Win Cramer, EDGE’s Director of Purchasing who oversees the company’s Product Development division.  “For us, the real news of the day is that there are a lot of digital consumers that actually need a 4GB USB flash drive,” Cramer added.

The 4GB DiskGO! USB 2.0 flash drive is the perfect product solution for storing and transferring digital files, including songs, photos, and movies. Its sleek lightweight design provides users extreme portability, weighing in at .5 ounces.

LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drives are announced. Swipe your finger over the sensor to unlock the LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drive while connected to any PC or Mac. LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drives are available in 40GB or 80GB capacities for $149.99 and $199.99 respectively.

Lacie Press Release

LaCie Unveils SAFE Mobile Hard Drive With Biometric Control Access

· Protect confidential files from unauthorized use
· Unlock the drive by fingerprint recognition
· Ideal for parental control
· Compact bus-powered Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hard drive*

PORTLAND, OR (June 2005) – Today LaCie unveils the revolutionary LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drive with cutting-edge biometric technology. Fingerprint authentication grants access to the drive. Thanks to embedded software, no installation is needed on the host computer making this storage solution completely mobile, user-friendly and secure. Compact SAFE drive casing created by Porsche Design GmbH is small enough to fit comfortably in a shirt pocket or bag.

Sandisk Press Release

SANDISK’S EXTREME III FLASH MEMORY CARDS WIN MAJOR TIPA DIGITAL IMAGING AWARD—BEST 2005 IMAGING STORAGE PRODUCT

TIPA Award Is Europe’s Highest Prize For Best Photo Products

COLOGNE, GERMANY, June 16, 2005 -SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today announced that the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA), an organization of 30 top photography publications from across Europe, has given its Best Imaging Storage Media Award For 2005 to the SanDisk Extreme™ III line of high-speed storage cards. SanDisk Extreme III cards, the world’s fastest flash memory cards, were recognized by leading editors, many of whom are professional photographers, as setting “a new standard for industry performance.”

Ampex Press Release

Redwood City, CA   June 14, 2005 - Ampex Corporation (OTCBB:AEXCA) today announced that it has concluded license agreements with two manufacturers of digital still cameras based in Japan: Nikon Corporation (Nikon), and Funai Electric Co., Ltd. (Funai).

The agreements permit the use of several United States and foreign patents held by Ampex in the manufacture and sale of digital still cameras. The licenses provide that their terms are confidential.

Pursuant to the licenses, Ampex will receive during its second fiscal quarter negotiated payments totaling approximately $2 million to settle liability for past use of its patents prior to conclusion of the agreements. The licensees will also pay to Ampex quarterly running royalties in the future based on the sales value of digital still cameras that utilize its patents.

Maxtor Corporation Press Release

New Maxtor OneTouch™ II, FireWire®800 Edition Provides High-Performance Storage with a Triple Interface and Award-Winning Backup Capabilities

London – June 14, 2005 – Maxtor Corporation (NYSE: MXO) today unveiled its new Maxtor OneTouch II drive with a FireWire 800 interface. Ideal for creative professionals, computer power users and digital content creators, the drive delivers up to 800Mbit per second data transfer rates to quickly transfer and store high-resolution graphics, digital audio/video, heavy multimedia files, photos and more. Mac® or PC users simply plug the Maxtor OneTouch II drive into any FireWire 800-enabled computer and are able to store their valuable data in seconds.

X-Rite Press Release

X-Rite’s Pulse ColorElite System Wins Five Star Award from Photoshop User Magazine; Color Management Solution Gets the Nod for Performance and Ease-of-Use

GRANDVILLE, Mich.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—June 13, 2005—X-Rite (NASDAQ:XRIT) today announced that its new Pulse ColorElite System has won Photoshop User Magazine’s Five Star Award. The product review will be featured on page 84 of the upcoming July/August issue of the publication, which hits stands today. This is one of several favorable reviews Pulse has received since it began shipping in late 2004.

PCMagazine have reviewed the Sony Photo Vault, a portable storage device that uses mini CDs as the storage medium.

“Although Sony cautions that mini CDs are not readable on every computer, ours worked on every machine we tested, including some that were four or five years old. We also tested the Photo Vault’s video output capability. We were able to view our images on a TV, individually or as a slide show. The images were crisp and stable.”

Website: PCMagazine - Sony Photo Vault Review

PQI aren’t the first company that spring to mind when you think of portable storage devices, but their new mPack P800 looks like it could be a viable alternative to the likes of the Epson P-2000, at least according to an enthusiastic review by PCStats.com (found via Gizmodo).

”...the mPack P800 even supports a range of picture formats beyond the expected JPEGs. GIF and BMP pics can be viewed, and even RAW images, something that should make photography enthusiasts smile.

Coupling well with its photo-viewing abilities, the mPack P800 sports another handy feature which is surprisingly uncommon among other players: its own Compact Flash slot. This thoughtful addition makes the player much more flexible to use and transfer data with, especially when away from home. “

Website: PCStats.com - PQI mPack P800 Review

Website: mPack

Apacer CP300 DVD Disc Steno is announced today. The Apacer CP300 DVD Disc Steno is a portable DVD burner with a built in colour LCD screen which can be used for viewing images and playing movies. The CP300 is capable of multi-session burns and a single charge of the battery will give approximately 20 burns from a 512MB memory card. The Apacer CP300 has an RRP of £329.99 including VAT.

Intro 2020 Press Release

The world’s first portable battery or mains powered DVD burner with built in colour viewing screen

Following the success of the CP100 and CP200 CD burning models, the CP300 gives users the capability to burn directly from most popular flash cards directly to DVD & & R/RW and DVD-R/RW in situations where mains power is not available or battery power is more convenient. This gives users of larger 1GB+ cards a fantastic back up facility to a single DVD, rather than multiple CDs.

EDGE Tech Corp Press Release

EDGE Tech Corp, a leading supplier of DRAM and Flash memory upgrades, portable computing products, storage devices, and other experience-enhancing technology solutions announced today a significant expansion to its digital media line to include two reduced-sized formats as well as a professional series of flash memory cards. The new additions include ProShot SD Memory Cards, RS-MMC (reduced size MMC) and miniSD.

“The digital photography craze is at an all time high. People are investing more to purchase higher quality cameras, and they want higher quality flash memory cards in order to realize maximum performance,” said Simon Crossley, VP of Sales for EDGE.

SmartMarketing Press Release

Russian digital photo (DP) market amount of 530,000 units in Q1 2005 say SmartMarketing

Moscow, Russia, - According to SmartMarketing Research Group (www.smartmarketing.ru) analysis the total sales volume of digital cameras of all types and categories on Russian market in the first quarter of 2005 amounted to 530.000 units. The investigation covered the main fractions of digital cameras for the mentioned period. The main information source is the in-house data of monitoring of digital cameras market for the considered time term and a range of detailed interviews with market participants.

Photoxels have posted a great interview with Kent Hatton, Sr. Director, Marketing Strategy and Communications for Fujifilm.

“Has Fujifilm abandoned interpolation altogether in their image sensors?

KH: With higher-resolution cameras now becoming part of the mainstream (given that 4 and 5 megapixels will be the best sellers this year), it does not make sense to continue to lead consumers down the ‘Megapixel-path’. If we interpolated the file produced by our 6 MP 5th Generation Super CCD to 12 MP, then that would be more than virtually all amateur photographers need. In fact, there are so many other features digital camera owners require (and should demand) that Megapixels no longer need to be the central point to fuss-over.”

Website: Photoxels - Interview with Kent Hatton, Fujifilm

DPReview have published a short, favourable review of Lexar’s LockTight memory card technology, which keeps images secure when used with the the new Nikon D2X digital SLR camera.

“As you may expect attempting to use a protected card in another camera displays either a ‘Not Formatted’ or ‘Card Error’ warning. Attempting to format the card in a different camera (a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II) fails with a ‘Cannot Format’ error, returning the card back to its assigned D2X showed that no images had been lost or damaged. Attempting to read the card in another card reader or on another computer using the Lexar card reader also failed to work, Windows didn’t even register that a card had been inserted.”

Website: DPReview - Lexar LockTight tested

Website: Understanding Lexar LockTight

LEXAR CUSTOMER ADVISORY

JUNE 1, 2005

To: Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, EOS-1D Mark II, EOS 20D, and EOS Digital Rebel XT / EOS 350D Digital / EOS Kiss Digital N camera customers using Lexar memory cards.

Update: On June 3, Lexar will release a firmware update for its Professional 80x CompactFlash customers who experience a problem with the Canon cameras listed. Issues experienced with other cards are expected to be addressed by Canon through its firmware release.

JOBO GIGA ONE is announced today. The GIGA ONE is a 20Gb portable storage device that is designed to be easy to use. The JOBO GIGA ONE has a fast USB 2 connection, stores all common file formats and supports all common flash formats. Price and availability of the GIGA ONE to be announced.

JOBO Press Release

JOBO announces the GIGA ONE mobile photo storage system with 20 GB capacity. It is an absolutely simple and stable solution for saving your images and data. It is also an external hard disk for PC/Mac and has built-in card slots for all popular flashcards like CF I/II, MicroDrive, SD, MS, MS Pro, MS Duo, and MMC.

Via a high-speed 2.0 connection, the GIGA ONE works as an external card reader/writer for PC/Mac. The GIGA ONE is very easy to use.  Its high quality aluminium housing and its integrated battery make it an ideal tool for digital photographers on the go.