Lexar has announced its new line of Crucial solid state drives (SSDs), which are more durable, require less power, and offer better performance than traditional hard disk drives. The Crucial SSDs will be available in 32GB and 64GB capacities in a 2.5-inch drive enclosure with a SATA 3.0Gb/s interface. Crucial SSDs are the ideal choice for photographers who require a reliable, durable, versatile, and convenient option for storing their work. In addition, Lexar is also announcing the Crucial SK01 External Drive Storage Kit, which delivers the benefits of SSD technology to a user’s desktop. The kit will allow users to enjoy SSD technology installed in their desktop or as a portable storage device via a USB port.

Leica is now inviting entries to its “Leica Oskar Barnack Award“ and “Leica European Publishers Award for Photography” photo competitions. The annual Leica Oskar Barnack Award is given to the photographer whose sure powers of observation most vividly express man’s relationship to his environment. The “Leica European Publishers Award for Photography” contest is one of the most prestigious photo book prizes in Europe. The deadline for the Oskar Barnack Award is January 31st 2008, and for the European Publishers Award March 21st 2008.

CIWEM’s Environmental Photographer of the Year Competition invites you to to raise awareness of environmental and social issues. The contest is open to all professional and amateur, national and international photographers working with digital and traditional photography. This year’s categories are Changing Climates; A World of Difference; Quality of Life; and The Natural World. The competition is organized by CIWEM (The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management) and is open until July 31st 2008.

The SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus is a new USB flash drive that offers automatic online backup for every file copied to the drive. Data is always available when Cruzer Titanium Plus is plugged into any computer. Users also get quick access to their backed-up files through any computer connected to the Internet, should they forget to bring the drive with them, or if the drive is lost or stolen. “This is true ‘set it and forget it’ data protection. Many users have told us they worry about losing their data, and now SanDisk is reducing that anxiety through an innovative new form of online backup,” said Hezy Rotman, vice president and general manager of SanDisk’s USB Division. The Cruzer Titanium Plus will be available in March for $59.99.

Happy New Year to everyone!

The start of 2008 promises to be extremely busy, with not one but two photography-related trade shows (CES and PMA), where the new cameras for the first half of the year will be unveiled. I’ll be at the PMA show in Las Vegas at the end of January to bring you all the news. Now is a good time to grab a camera bargain, as many of the “old” models will be heavily discounted to make way for the new, but on the other hand, you never know what’s just around the corner…

We’ve got some exciting reviews lined-up for the next few weeks; the Olympus E-3, Nikon D300 and Sony A700 will all be put under the spotlight. We’re also working on several new features which we can’t talk about just yet.

With CES taking place next week, expect a lot of new product announcements starting from tomorrow, so keep visiting, subscribe to our RSS feed, and sign-up for the weekly Newsletter to stay up-to-date with all the latest news.

Kodak and Panasonic have reached agreement over four U.S. patents, which Kodak claimed Panasonic had violated. In the report by business website Bloomberg, Kodak issued a lawsuit in July 2007, claiming that Panasonic used “inventions for image compression, storage, color sensors and previews it patented between 1991 and 2001”.“The license agreement, which will allow each company access to the other’s patent portfolio, is royalty-bearing to Kodak,’’ said a Kodak statement. A similar lawsuit was settled with Sony in January 2007.

Website: Bloomberg - Kodak, Matsushita Settle Digital Camera Patent Fight

Carl Zeiss have just launched a photo contest looking for interesting photos from the past year. The use of a lens from Carl Zeiss is obligatory for participation in the contest. All winning photos will be published on the Carl Zeiss website. The Carl Ziess contest will end on 7th January 2008.

Digital Foci is launching three new digital photo frames at CES 2008 (held January 7th-10th). The Image Moments 15 frame (pictured) has a large 15-inch screen and 16.2 million colors. Image Moments 8 offers an 8-inch screen with leading technology LED Backlight. Image Moments 6 comes with a 5.7-inch screen and the highest pixel density display available on the market. Image Moments 15 (IMT-153) is priced at $399, Image Moments 8 (IMT-083) is priced at $199, and Image Moments 6 (IMT-063) is priced at $149, all available from March 2008.

The ATP GPS Photo Finder is a a portable device that geotags photos taken by any digital camera. It’s universally compatible with any digital camera using jpeg image files. Put a memory card into the Photo Finder’s built-in card reader or USB port and it automatically finds and tags your images without any additional software or hardware required. The ATP GPS Photo Finder is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2008, price to be announced.

Sony has released a new firmware update, version 3, for the 12 megapixel Sony A700 DSLR camera. Version 3 provides the following benefits:

Benefits over firmware version 2:
Resolves an issue where the Access Lamp remains lit and the camera stops responding when several pictures are taken in rapid succession.
Resolves an issue where powering the camera off while in “MR” mode may cause some registered settings to carry over to other shooting modes.

Additional benefits over other firmware versions:
Sharper images for pictures taken under low contrast conditions
Reduced noise for pictures taken at ISO 3200
Improved flash control for objects closer than 1 meter with non ADI controlled lenses

Website: Sony A700 Firmware Update v3 (Europe)

Website: Sony A700 Firmware Update v3 (USA)

Four by six-inch digital prints through HP’s Snapfish service now cost just 9 cents each. In addition, prices for pre-paid prints are as low as 8 cents each. Either option provides more than 50 percent savings compared to those of other photo-sharing sites. “The best value in photography just got better as we’re now offering our 45 million members prints for mere pennies,” said Ben Nelson, vice president and general manager, Snapfish by HP.

The Sony Cyber-shot S730 is a new entry-level digital camera with a 3x zoom lens, 7.2 megapixels and 2.4-inch LCD screen. A new multi-point autofocus mode ensures pin-sharp images, and selecting ‘High Sensitivity’ mode boosts sensitivity to ISO 1250. If you’re new to photography, the Sony S730 guides you with a handy display of functions, plus there’s on-screen advice to help you select the right settings. The Sony Cyber-shot S730 will be available throughout Europe from mid January 2008, price to be announced.

Olympus have released a new program which imports and displays RAW files in Windows Vista. The RAW codec works with the following Olympus cameras:

E-1, E-3*, E-300, E-330, E-400, E-410, E-500 , E-510 , E-10, E-20, C-70 ZOOM, C-5050ZOOM, C-5060 Wide Zoom, C-7070 Wide Zoom, C-8080 Wide Zoom, SP-310, SP-320, SP-350, SP-500UZ, SP-510UZ, SP-550UZ, SP-560UZ
*A part of the parameter does not apply to RAW developing of images.

Olympus RAW codec for Windows Vista

Ricoh have released the first firmware update, v1.12, for the GR Digital II, a new 10 megapixel compact digital camera with a 28mm, f/2.4 fixed focal length lens. Version 1.12 adds the following improvements:

- Improved an image quality in a small size (VGA etc.)
- Modified the following phenomena.
If you operate the ADJ lever in the macro mode, display switching speed may change.
If you operate the ADJ lever while compensating exposure, any keys will not work.
- When you exit a macro mode, the lens unit operating will become initialized in order to improve a focus accuracy.

Ricoh GR Digital II Firmware Update v1.12

Wishing you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2007 has been a fantastic year for PhotographyBLOG. The site has grown by a massive 65% year-on-year, now receiving over 570,000 unique visitors and 1.7 million page views every month.

Our regularly updated breaking News, in-depth product Reviews and popular Gallery and Forums community have all contributed to making PhotographyBLOG one of the largest online photographic websites around.

Thank you to everyone for visiting us during 2007.

Mark Goldstein
Editor, PhotographyBLOG

Canon have released a new firmware update for the 1Ds Mark III DSLR camera. Version 1.0.6 incorporates the following improvements and fixes.

1. Improves the reliability of communication with some CF cards.
2. Fixes a phenomenon involving color cast and vertical lines appearing in images.

Website: Canon 1Ds Mark III Firmware Update 1.0.6

Ricoh have released a new firmware update for the Ricoh 500g Wide, water, dust and shock resistant digital camera with a 28mm wide-angle 3x zoom lens. The rather cryptic improvement in Version 1.10 is “Modified the following phenomenon that it may be out of order in playback on rare occasions.”

Website: Ricoh Caplio 500G Wide Firmware Update 1.10 (Windows)
Website: Ricoh Caplio 500G Wide Firmware Update 1.10 (MAC)

Imaging Resource have just reviewed the new Kodak 5500 All-in-One printer.

“Kodak has indeed found a way to deliver the least expensive home photo printing available with the best print longevity to boot but on a device whose firmware needs a lot more work. Part of the cost trick is in limiting the inks to just three colors. But there’s a lot of impressive science behind that accomplishment, including the extremely small size of the pigments themselves. Another part is the three grades of paper, which are bar coded on the back to tell the printer what weight and surface it’s dealing with, a big boost in productivity.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Kodak 5500 Review

Dutch wildlife photography Jan Vermeer recently made an epic journey through the icy wastelands of Antartica, accompanied by Nikon’s brand new DSLR, the eagerly-anticipated D300. In our exclusive English report, Jan shares his experiences of using Nikon’s prosumer DSLR camera in such an inhospitable climate, photographing the Emperor Penguins of Snow Hill Island. A passionate advocate of the D2X camera, this was Jan’s first hands-on test of the new Nikon D300 - find out how it performed in one of the most beautiful and most hostile parts of our planet.

Website: Nikon D300 Field Test

Capture One 4, the next generation of Phase One’s RAW workflow software, is now available. A newly designed user interface offers high fidelity color and detail reproduction, plus new timesaving workflow features. “Capture One excels at RAW workflow,” said Jan H. Christiansen, marketing director for Phase One. “Today, it is no less an art to develop digital images than to process film in the darkroom. Ours is not an ‘end-to-end’ solution, but devoted to helping photographers achieve the highest quality from the images they have captured.” Capture One 4 is available now for $129 USD / 99 EUR. Existing Capture One customers can upgrade to Capture One 4 at no extra cost.