Steves Digicams have reviewed the Pentax Optio E50, a new 8 megapixel entry-level digital camera with numerous automatic functions.

“Outdoor quality from the Pentax E50 is good. The images are well exposed, and the colors are bright and crisp. The 3x optical zoom, with a 35mm equivalent of 37.5-112.5mm, is great for shooting landscapes, group and individual photographs, but it is not enough to get you closer to distant objects. At the wide end of the zoom, you will see a moderate amount of barrel distortion and some vignetting. You will also see some edge softness throughout the zoom range.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Pentax Optio E50 Review

Epson’s new SX400 and SX200 all-in-one printers offer cost-effective printer, scanner and copier functionality in a stylish and compact unit. Both the SX400 and SX200 feature individual ink cartridges for cost-efficient printing, and use use Epson’s pigment-based DURABrite Ultra Ink for prints that can last up to 200 years when stored in a photo album. The Epson SX400 additionally includes a 6.3cm crystal-clear LCD viewer. The Epson SX400 costs £119.99 and the Epson SX200 £79.99, both available in June 2008.

Epson’s Focal Points aims to inform and inspire users of Epson’s wide-format printers. Focal Points features written and video stories on how creative professionals are obtaining success with Epson printers. “The first round of stories, images and videos allow viewers to experience recent exhibitions in some of the most prestigious galleries and museums in Europe and North America that they otherwise may not have had the opportunity to see. The accounts are also a testament to the overwhelming trust leading artists have in Epson Professional Products.” said Dan Steinhardt, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc.

Face to Face: Rick Sammon’s Complete Guide to Photographing People offers proven techniques and tips for photographing people. Sammon’s new book comes stocked with his extraordinary images of people from around the world, including Papua New Guinea, Namibia, Cuba, Mongolia, and Bhutan.  “You’ll learn how to photograph people in low light and in bright light, with a flash and without a flash. You’ll see how reflectors and diffusers can turn a snapshot into a great shot. You’ll understand the difference between an environmental portrait (a picture of the person in his or her environment) and a portrait—and the difference between taking and making a picture.” explains Sammon. Face to Face: Rick Sammon’s Complete Guide to Photographing People costs $34.99 / £21.99.

Hasselblad launches its award winning Victor magazine online. Victor online will include the entire content of the printed magazine, plus offer tutorials, ‘behind the scenes’ videos and podcasts. “The launch of the new online version of Victor is an exciting addition to the world of Hasselblad.  There are many advantages afforded by Victor online, although the printed version will continue to be the best way for professional photographers to see the benefits of high-end photography and to view some of the world’s most stunning images.” commented Andreas Brakonier, Corporate Brand Manager for Victor by Hasselblad. Victor online will be free of charge.

QuickPro DVD Camera Guides feature interactive camera tour of the latest DSLRs. QuickPro is now producing new DVD Camera Guide titles every month, the latest being tutorials for the popular Nikon D60 and Canon Xsi. “People don’t want to spend the hours required to read and apply a user manual,” says Landon Bradfield, QuickPro, LLC’s sales manager. “Consequently, they buy these amazing SLR cameras and then never realize their full potential and the power of this mind-blowing technology. There’s a great disconnect there, so we’re changing that with our DVD tutorials.”

Fujifilm is increasing prices on its range of photographic papers and other photosensitive material by up to 20%. Fujifilm has been absorbing the increasing costs of raw materials used to manufacture films and papers over the past few years. However, the recent soaring costs of such materials as silver and crude oil mean that Fujifilm is no longer able to do this. The worldwide increase will be effective from July 2008.

The new Canon PowerShot A580 camera features a 4x optical zoom lens, brand new Motion Detection Technology with High ISO Auto, 2.5 inch LCD screen and an optical viewfinder. Available for around $150 / £100, the 8 megapixel, entry-level Canon A580 is a predominately point-and-shoot model, with a new Easy mode for beginners and 16 other scene modes, although there are several manual over-rides available for more experienced users. The newest member of our team, Zoltan Arva-Toth, found out if the Canon PowerShot A580 is the perfect Summer investment for you…

Website: Canon PowerShot A580 Review

LowePro have launched the next generation models of their popular Nova AW series of shoulder bags. Improvements include a patented 360° All Weather Cover, large central compartment with movable dividers and memory card pockets on the inside front lid. “The Nova AW series has consistently been a popular choice for photographers at all experience levels, and we’re confident that the new models will keep photographers shooting even when faced with challenging weather conditions.” said Nicole Mummenhoff, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Lowepro. The Nova AW series is available in four colours, Black, Bordeaux Red, Chestnut Brown and Ultramarine Blue.

Lowepro’s new Inverse Beltpack provides photographers with two carrying alternatives in one stylish bag. The Inverse AW Beltpack can be worn around the waist by snapping on the contoured mesh lumbar belt or carried as a shoulder bag with the detachable 360° swivel padded shoulder harness. “Every photographer has been in a situation where they have missed the perfect shot because they couldn’t reach their camera or their accessories fast enough. We have created the new Inverse AW beltpack to provide a platform that keeps all of that equipment comfortably at arms reach and easily accessible to the photographer,” said Nicole Mummenhoff, senior vice president of global branding at Lowepro. The Lowepro Inverse 100 and 200 AW are available in black, arctic blue, and leaf green, in-store or online from early August, priced at £59 and £69 respectively.

Sitepoint are giving away The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques, completely free! Available to download as a PDF, the 278 page book normally worth $29.95 is billed as “the ultimate Photoshop compendium for web designers”. The offer runs until June 13th, 2008…

Website: The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques

Canon has launched the first of two new television commercials to support the Canon EOS Rebel and Canon PowerShot digital camera lines. “Journey,” uses a unique technology that blends individual digital still photographs shot with the Canon EOS-1D Mark III into a “picture-trail” motion commercial. “In this spot, the journey is the destination. Edited together, the shots made for a compelling story. But each single Canon photograph is also a piece of art in itself. You can freeze this ad at any given moment and find a photo that you’d probably like to blow up, frame and put on your wall.” said Grey New York’s chief creative officer Tor Myhren. The latest PowerShot commercial, set to air in early June, will continue to feature Maria Sharapova and her charismatic puppy, “Dolce.”

Olympus is sponsoring Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ second attempt to climb Mt Everest, which aims to raise £3 million for Marie Curie Cancer Care. In April, Sir Ranulph Fiennes started the journey along with his team, and they aim to return home in early June. Olympus are supplying the flagship camera of the Four Thirds standard, the Olympus E-3, plus the ultra compact E410 and the Mju Tough cameras.

Luminous Landscape have reviewed the Hasselblad H3D-II DSLR camera, which offers a choice of 22, 31 or 39 megapixel sensors up to 48x36 mm in size.

“My overall impression of this camera is one of smooth ease-of-use. I took to it right away and found very few niggles with the handling apart from those mentioned above. It’s logical, the menus are easy to navigate, and the camera controls are where they should be. Optically it is as excellent as you’d imagine from Hasselblad, and whilst the supplied software is dated, the replacement, Phocus, promises great things. It’s not a perfect landscape camera, but what is? As a general purpose camera of the highest possible image quality it is a winner and I’d have no hesitation in recommending it.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Hasselblad H3D-II Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Pentax A40, a new compact digital camera offering 12 megapixels, 2.5 inch LCD monitor and 3x optical zoom lens.

“Pentax’s Optio A40 is an ultra-compact digicam that is full of features. It has a 12-megapixel imaging sensor, Triple Shake Reduction technology, Enhanced Face Detection, Dynamic Range Adjustment and a 2.5” LCD screen with bright mode and a wide field of view. The face detection will select the proper exposure and focus based on the faces detected, giving you a properly exposed image every time, while Dynamic Range Adjustment automatically adjusts highlights and shadows to properly expose the whole image.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Pentax A40 Review

DCViews have reviewed the Olympus SP-570 UZ camera, which features a 20x zoom equivalent to 26-520mm.

“Image quality at low ISO settings is excellent, with well balanced, realistic colours and lots of punch. Saturation, sharpness and contrast can be upped or toned down on the screen menu, or a quick fix could be to choose for vivid or natural colours. White balance and exposure are spot on most of the time and images rarely require any exposure compensation except for extreme contrast situations with the sun in the picture or very dark shadow areas. Shadow adjustment can be set at the touch of a dedicated button at the capture stage or fixed in camera in post processing and this works okay.”

Website: DCViews - Olympus SP-570 UZ Review

Website: Read our Olympus SP-570 UZ Review

Canon USA have just launched their Summer 2008 Instant Rebate scheme. Between May 18th and July 19th, 2008, Canon will be offering an instant rebate offer on selected EOS cameras and accessories, including $300 off the EOS 5D and $200 off the EOS 40D. The limit is one instant rebate per eligible product purchased during the promotion period.

The Fisheye-Hemi Plug-In for Aperture corrects hemispheric fisheye lens distortion, working seamlessly within Aperture’s photo editing and management environment. Fisheye-Hemi Plug-In uses almost all of the pixel data with no loss of image resolution, while displaying the intended composition and framing better than other un-warping programs. “The Fisheye-Hemi Plug-In offers quick and effortless correction of fisheye lens distortion directly within user’s Aperture image library,” said Dan Sullivan, president and CEO of Image Trends, Inc. The Fisheye-Hemi Plug-In is also available for Photoshop on Mac and Windows based machines. Each plug-in is priced at US$29.95.

PhotoAcute Studio promises to remove the noise from High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. PhotoAcute’s special method of dynamic range expansion automatically and almost completely removes the noise from the shadow areas of HDR images. PhotoAcute Studio also increases spatial resolution, extends the depth of field and corrects chromatic aberrations. It supports a variety of image formats, including RAW, DNG and TIFF, and can save the results in Adobe’s DNG format. PhotoAcute Studio Professional costs $119.

The Tamron SP AF70-200mm F/2.8 Di LD (IF) MACRO now has a built-in AF motor, making it compatible with Nikon’s APS-C DSLR cameras. The Tamron 70-200mm lens provides a field of view equivalent to 105-300mm when used with the Nikon D60, D40x and D40. Tamron have revealed that the new lens will be launched in Japan on May 30th 2008.