Cokin Magnefix Wide angle & telezoom conversion lenses
New from Cokin - the filter specialists, is a range of wide angle and telezoom conversion lenses designed to increase or reduce the angle of vision of digital compact cameras, with or without zoom lenses, digital camcorders, picture phones, web cameras and CCTV cameras.

The lenses are attached by a metallic ring, simply peel off the protective film from the ring and attach the adhesive side of the ring to your lens surround. The Magne-fix lens is then fitted onto the magnetic ring. The metallic ring can be left on your lens for future use, or can be removed. A spare ring is included in all kits.

APACER IMAGE STENO SV300
Multifunction USB flash drive with digital camera, digital camcorder and web cam functions.

The new Apacer multifunction IMAGE STENO SV300 can be used as a USB drive to transfer data between computers, a VGA resolution still camera and QVGA (15fps) resolution video camera and complete with its own docking station, the Image Steno SV300 also provides a USB web cam function.

With it?s mini design, fixed focus from 20cm, auto white balance and exposure, its operation could not be easier. Simply shoot your moving or still images and then plug into your USB port or the docking station to download. Whilst downloading, the Image Steno?s built in Li-ion battery automatically begins recharging through the USB connection.

Image Steno SV 300 is compatible with Windows and Mac. Suggested retail price ?49.99. Available immediately.

Colour Confidence Press Release 17/05/04

ColorPlus launch heralds new era in affordable Monitor Calibration Devices

ColorVision ColorPlus available from £89.95 inc VAT
Brings monitor calibration devices to a wider consumer audience

Birmingham, UK, May 17, 2004 - Colour Confidence, the colour management division of TypeMaker, is set to revolutionise the consumer digital photography marketplace with the launch of ColorVision ColorPlus. Priced at a highly attractive £89.95 (including VAT), the simple to use PC Windows-based device introduces consumers to the benefits of monitor calibration devices, traditionally the preserve of professional photographers.

“The growing popularity of digital photography and imaging has created a requirement for an entry-level colour management solution that delivers true monitor accuracy. The introduction of ColorPlus brings a new dimension to the photographic experience of digital camera enthusiasts who traditionally have not been able to justify the additional spend. ColorPlus offers an affordable introduction to monitor calibration devices and a simple migration path to the Spyder and Spyder Pro portfolio,” said Geoffrey Clements, Managing Director, Colour Confidence.

CNET News have an intersting article about the use of peer-to-peer technology (think Napster) for sharing digital photos. OurPictures is launching a new service which will allow you to swap pictures with other users on the OurPictures network.

“Our belief is that the desktop is the right place where a consumer wants to organize and manage their digital photos—not on a Web site,” said John Paul, CEO and founder of OurPictures. “If you have one photo you want a thousands people to see, that’s one thing. But a Web site is not the right place to place thousands of photos.”

Is this a great idea, or simply someone trying to make use of a problematic technology?

Website: CNET News - Point, click and swap—digital photos go P2P

Kodak have today announced that Lexar Media will be their exclusive source for digital memory cards, and that they will sell Lexar cards rebranded with the Kodak name. The types of memory card include Secure Digital (SD), Mini-SD, CompactFlash and other digital recording formats.

“In a statement, the companies said they had joined forces in order to “gain a larger share of the market for removable digital memory products” and noted surging demand for digital cameras, cameraphones, music players and other consumer electronics that use removable memory cards to store data.”

Website: Yahoo News - Kodak Names Lexar Memory Card Provider

PCMagazine have published a short article which wonders how long digital photos will last for…

“I should be happy. I’m a proponent of digital photography and digital video. I use it and write about it. But I’m also plagued by little panic attacks. I haven’t taken a 35mm photo of my kids in months. What if my computer hard drive dies? I have all my photos backed up on a CD, but what if I lose that or it somehow becomes corrupted?”

Website: PCMagazine - Will Digital Images Last?

Ken Rockwell has written an informative and opionated article that compares point and shoot digital cameras with digital SLRs (found via Digital Photography Blog).

“If you want to spend a grand for serious digital photography forget the expensive p/s cameras and go straight to any DSLR. Since you can get a far superior DSLR for what you used to have to pay for just a p/s as of 2004 I see no need for the expensive p/s digital cameras.”

Website: Ken Rockwell - The Two Classes of Digital Cameras

Delkin Devices Inc. Press Release 10/05/04

DELKIN?S USB BRIDGE CONNECTS A DIGITAL CAMERA DIRECTLY TO A STORAGE DEVICE WITHOUT A COMPUTER

Poway CA, May 10, 2004 Delkin Devices Inc., maker of premium quality eFilm memory cards and other innovative products, announces a revolutionary new device that connects two USB devices together without a computer. The USB Bridge fits easily in the palm of one’s hand, and enables users to copy files by attaching a digital camera directly to a variety of peripherals such as an iPod (and other MP3 players), USB Flash “Thumb Drives”, external hard drives, CD-R burners and memory card readers. It links your camera to a wide variety of USB mass storage devices without having to remove the memory card. The Bridge works with all the top camera brands including Canon, Fuji, Kodak, Nikon, Olympus and Sony. Delkin designed the Bridge for the traveling photographer who prefers the convenience of leaving their laptop at home but still needs a solution for storing and transferring files on the fly. The versatile USB Bridge is more than a helpful tool for photographers.  It can also work independent of a digital camera and enables anyone to copy files by directly linking:

- USB Flash “Thumb Drives” to USB Flash “Thumb Drives”.
- A USB storage device to an iPod and other USB MP3 players.
- Memory Card Reader to Memory Card Reader.
- USB Flash “Thumb Drive” or Memory Card Reader to a CD-R burner or External Hard Drive.

Mike Johnston’s Sunday Morning Photographer column returns this week with a look at finding the best archival blank CD-Rs.

“There’s not really one “best” type of disc. There are several good ones. The problem is, how do you know what you’re buying? Most CD-R blanks that are available in most stores are only marked with the brand name (which is irrelevant - I’ll get to that in a minute) and the country of origin (this can be marginally helpful, as most “Made in Japan” discs are Taiyo Yuden, a dependably good factory. But it’s not much to go on).”

Website: Sunday Morning Photographer: “Finding the Best CD-Rs”

According to a brief report on the Forbes website, Olympus shipped 7.4 million digital cameras during their last business year (ending March 31st 2004). This makes it the third largest digital camera brand after Sony and Canon. Olympus has stated that it expects to ship 11 million digicams in the coming financial year (found via Digital Photography Blog).

According to an article by NE Asia Online, over 50% of homes in Japan now own at least one digital camera, a dramatic increase from 32% a year earlier. The article is based on a monthly survey by the Japanese Cabinet Office.

Website: NE Asia Online - Digital Cameras, DVD Players Spreading Fast in Japan

Stephen Voss’ article “On Digital Photography” in Digital Web Magazine is a well-written personal perspective on the megapixel race, colour management, professional photographers and publishing images on the web (found via Digital Photography Blog).

“Unfortunately, just like late night infomercials, it’s easy to get sucked into fancy descriptions and “cutting edge” technology with these claims of increased megapixels. Just because a camera is advertised as having 3 megapixels doesn’t mean that it’s using all 3 of those megapixels to capture an image. Furthermore, the size and shape of these pixels play a huge part in the quality of the information they capture. As an example, a professional 3 megapixel will often outperform (in terms of detail, color captured and overall image quality) a consumer-grade 5 megapixel camera due to having a larger imaging chip, in addition to better in-camera image processing.”

Website: Digital Web Magazine - On Digital Photography

Steves Digicams has just reviewed the Apacer Disc Steno CP-200 portable storage device, which can transfer image files or other data from flash memory cards to CD-R or CD-R/W discs without a computer.

“You’ve gotta love progress and the fact that the vastly improved CP-200 sells for the same $299 that the CP-100 sold for last year. It works very well and is simple to operate - what more can I say?  We want to use our digital cameras on vacation but we don’t want to have to bring a large and expensive laptop computer along. They make a very desirable target for thieves when sitting unattended in your hotel room or rental car. I’d rather risk a $299 CP-200 than my $3000 Sony VAIO—how about you?”

Website: Steves Digicams - Apacer Disc Steno CP-200 Review

“Memory Card Readers and Memory Cards - Sequential Read Rates and Random Access Times” is a great resource if you’re interested in the speed of different readers and cards. Published by Hans-Jurgen Reggel, the site covers 10 card readers and 24 memory cards, and then tests all of the different combinations (found via digicamera.net).

Website: Memory Card Readers and Memory Cards

Iomega Corporation Press Release 27/04/04

SAN DIEGO, April 26, 2004 Iomega Corporation (NYSE: IOM), a global leader in data storage, today announced availability of the new Iomega Floppy Plus 7-in-1 Card Reader. Iomega’s new host-powered drive is ideal for photographers and mobile users, bundling a convenient 1.44 MB floppy drive with the seamless capability to read and write all of the most common flash media formats.

Striking Industrial Design
The Iomega Floppy Plus 7-In-1 Card Reader is designed for simple, portable convenience. Just one inch tall and with a smaller footprint than a CD jewel case, the attractive two-tone design in silver and grey travels easily in any laptop computer bag and weighs just 12 ounces (340 g). A single USB cable handles all power and data requirements. Front-loading slots let users read and write the most common memory card formats and transfer data between different media types, providing an all-in-one solution that can replace multiple card readers.

digitalreview.ca have posted a first look at the Nikon Coolwalker MSV-01, a 30GB portable image storage device for the organisation of digital images.

“From my first impressions of the Nikon MSV-01 Coolwalker, I must say that I really like what I see. The device offers ample storage space with its 30GB harddrive, and the design and operation of the unit seems very intuitive. The Coolwalker’s compact size (reminds me of the original Sony Walkman) and lightweight design, makes it very portable and easy to bring along.”

Website: digitalreview.ca - Nikon Coolwalker MSV-01 First Look

The Independent newspaper yesterday published a very interesting article about the longevity of CD-Rs, or rather the lack of it.

“But an investigation by a Dutch personal computer magazine, PC Active, has shown that some CD-Rs are unreadable in as little as two years, because the dyes in the CD’s recording layer fade. These dyes replace the aluminium “pits” of a music CD or CD-Rom, and the laser uses that layer to distinguish 0s from 1s. When the CD is written, the writing laser “burns” the dye, which becomes dark, to represent a “1” while a “0” will be left blank so that if the dye fades, there’s no difference; it’s just a long string of nothing to the playback laser.”

So are DVD’s, which I’ve recently started using, a better alternative? Apparently not…

“Recordable DVDs are not off the hook either. The “dye chemicals” in write-once DVDs are similar to CD-R, though recording density and disk construction differ. “We’re in the process of testing DVDs and we’re sure that the same problems will occur,” said Horlings, who plans to publish his findings soon.”

So how do you currently archive your treasured photo collection? Cd-Rs? DVDs? Hard drives? Good old reliable film? Sounds like a great topic for the PhotographyBLOG Poll :-)

Website: The Independent - Ever decreasing circles

The website Boston.com have published a guide to the cheaper end of the monitor calibration market, looking at ColorPlus from ColorVision, Eye One Display from GretagMacbeth and a software program called DisplayMate (found via Digicamera.net).

“To test whether calibration had any effect on my printouts, I output photos before and after running ColorPlus. There was virtually no difference between the two images; they both looked good. Does that mean that the calibration didn’t work? Not necessarily.

ColorPlus did make significant changes to my monitor display, bringing it more in line with the printouts. Colors popped a bit more and the screen wasn’t as bright.”

Website: Boston.com - Monitor calibration for home users

Popular Photography have just reviewed the SpyderPro monitor calibration device. This is is an an all-digital, seven-filter colorimeter that works with both CRT and LCD monitors with the industry’s premiere monitor calibration software - OptiCAL. The SpyderPRO with OptiCAL calibrates your monitor to a universal standard for color and automatically creates a correct monitor profile.

Website: Popular Photography - SpyderPRO Review

TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD and Sony Corporation Press Release 15/04/04

Blu-ray Disc technology-based paper disc to be unveiled at ODS 2004

Tokyo, April, 15th , 2004, TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD and Sony Corporation today announce the successful development of a 25GB paper disc based on Blu-ray Disc technology. Details will be announced at the Optical Data Storage 2004 conference to be held from April 18th to April 21st at Monterey, California. 

Using the disc-structure of Blu-ray Disc technology, the new paper disc has a total weight that is 51% paper. The two companies jointly began this optical disc project approximately a year ago. Blu-ray Disc is commonly known for allowing more than 2 hours of high-definition program recording.